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J 

REUNION 



U 3 3 

Free-Soilers of 1848, 

/ 

AT 

DOWNER LANDING, HINGHAM, MASS., 



August 9, 1877. 



Behold, thkue ariseth a little cloud, like a man's hand. 



BOSTON: 
A L B E B T J. W R I G H T, P R I X T E R, 

79 Milk Street (cohneu of Federal). 
1877. 



KEUNION OF THE FftEE-SOILERS OF 1848. 



The Free-Soil party, organized in 1848, which marked 
a new era in politics, and prepared the way for the 
Republican party, which finally triumphed in the Pres- 
idential election of 1860, had such an influence upon the 
history of this country, that the events which led to its 
formation must ever be of interest, not only to those 
engaged in the movement, but to the student of politics ; 
and therefore it is deemed important to preserve a record 
of the proceedings which took place at a reunion of the 
men who took an active part in the organization and sup- 
port of that party, which was held at Melville Garden, 
Hingham, Mass., on the 9th of August, 1877. Hence 
these pages. 

The idea of such a gathering had been in the minds of 
several gentlemen for some years ; but certain circum- 
stances seemed to render it expedient to postpone the 
meeting for a time, until, finally, Mr. Samuel Downer 
took the matter resolutely in hand, and it is mainly to his 
exertions and liberality that the signal success of the 
gathering is due. The purpose of the meeting is suffi- 
ciently set forth in the opening address of Mr. Downer, 
and nothing need be said here in that regard. 

The following invitation was prepared, and sent to two 
hundred and twenty gentlemen, who were either active in 
the campaign of 1848, or whose subsequent connection 



4 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

with the party, or relation to the leaders of that day, gave 
them a title to be remembered on such an occasion. 



"For A.uld Lang Syne." 

Bostox, July 19, 1877. 
Dear Sir: — I respectfully invite you to attend a reunion of the 
Free-Soilers of 1848, at Melville Garden, on Thursday, the ninth 
day of August. 

The boat will leave Rowe's Wharf at 10.30 and 12.15 ; return at 
4, 5.20, and 6.45. Clam-bake at 1.30. 

Please inform me whether we may expect the pleasure of your 
company. I have the honor to be, 

Faithfully yours, 

Sam'l Downer. 

The following is a list of the gentlemen invited : — 



Hon. CHAS. FRANCIS ADAMS 
Hon. JOHN B. ALLEY, 
WM. ASHBY, 
Rev. GEORGE ALLEN, 
M. ANAGNOS, 
FORESTER ANDREW, 
ALBERT G. BROWNE, 
JOHN N. BARBOUR, . 
WM. L. BURT, . 
PETER C. BACON, . 
Hon. JOHN D. BALDWIN 
Hon. JOHN I. BAKER, 
Hon. F. W. BIRD, . 
THOS. T. BOUVE, 
Hon. JOHN A. BOLLES, 
S. H. BENSON, . 
GEO. WM. BOND, 
WM. I. BOWDITCH, . 
JONATHAN BATTLES, 
CYRUS BREWER, 
J. N. BUFFUM, . 
WINSLOW BATTLES, 
EBEN BIRD, 
STEPHEN BAKER, . 
Hon. JAS. A. BRIGGS, 
MATTHEW BOLLES, . 
ALBERT G. BROWNE, Jr 
JOHN BOTUME, Jr., . 



Quincy. 

Lynn. 

Newburyport. 

Worcester. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Salem. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Worcester. 

Worcester. 

Beverly. 

East Walpole. 

Hingham. 

Washington, D. C. 

Streator, 111. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Dorchester. 

Boston. 

Lynn. 

Boston. 

Dorchester. 

Dorchester. 

New York City. 

Boston. 

New York. 

Boston. 






Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848, 



CHAS. C. BARRY, 

EDWARD S. BUFFUM, 

WM. WELLS BROWN, 

GEO. BRADBURN, 

JOHX R. BREWER, . 

CHAS. B. BARNES, . 

H. O. BRIGGS, . 

H. W. BLANCHARD, . 

SETH L. BURR, . 

NATHAN BURR. . 

Dr. HENRY I. BOWDITCH, 

ALVAH A. BURRAGE, 

ASAPH CHURCHILL, 

Hon. HEXEY CHAPIX, 

THEOPHILUS CHANDLER 

Ho.v. WM. CLAFLIN,. 

HON. J. M. CHURCHILL 

CHAS. CHOATE, . 

E. H. CHAMPNEY, . 

EBENEZER CLAPP, . 

Rev. JAS. FREEMAN CLARKE. 

GEO. AY. CARNES, . 

Hox. L. M. CRANE, . 

S. S. CURTIS, . 

H. H. CHAMBERLIX, 

Hox. OTIS CARY, 

FRANCIS CHILDS, . 

JOHX CURTIS, . 

H.»x. J. E. CRANE, . 

Dr. BEX.T. CUSHIXG, 

WM. E. COFFIN, 

Dr. WM. F. CHAXXIXG, 

THOS. A. CAREW, . 

WM. CHASE, 

CHAS. M. S. CHURCHILL 

GEORGE COOLIDGE, 

DAVID CHAPIX. 

JOHX CUSHING, 

LABAX CUSHING, . 

ANDREW CUSHING, . 

Hox. CHAS. G. DAVIS, 

Hox. RICHARD EL DAXA. Jr 

THOMAS DREW, 

J. 1). DANIELS, . 

JOHX G. D WIGHT, . 

JAS. H. DAXEORTH. . 

FREDERICK DOUGLASS 

ANDREW W. DEN BAR, 



Boston. 

Chelsea. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Hingham. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Nepouset. 

Hingham Centre. 

Hingham Centre. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Worcester. 

Brookline. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Woburn. 

Woburn. 

Dorchester. 

Jamaica Plain. 

Boston. 

Daltou. 

Boston. 

Worcester. 

Eoxborough. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Bridgewater. 

Dorchester. 

Dorchester. 

Newport, R. I. 

Cambridge. 

Salem. 

Milton. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

South Hingham. 

South Hingham. 

South Hingham. 

Plymouth. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Worcester. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Washington, D. C. 

South Hingham. 



Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 



RALPH WALDO EMERSON, . . Concord. 

CHAS. M. ELLIS, .... Boston. 

WM. ENDICOTT, Jr., .... Boston. 

Hon. M. M. FISHER, .... Medway. 

CHAS. FIELD, Boston. 

C. H. FITCH, . . . . . Worcester. 

ABRAHAM FIRTH, .... Boston. 

JONAS FITCH, Boston. 

SAMUEL L. FEARING, . . . South Hingham. 

CYRUS GALE, Northbbrough. 

Hon. D. W. GOOCH, . . . . . Boston. 

PHINEAS GAY, Boston. 

HENRY GUILD, . . . . . Boston. 

J. A. GIDDINGS, Jefferson, Ohio. 

Dr. ESTES HOWE, .... Boston. . 

THOS. WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, Newport, R. I. 

JAS. G. HARTSHORNE, . . . Walpole. 

Hon. E. R. HOAR, .... Concord. 

Hon. GEORGE F. HOAR, . . . Worcester. 

JOSEPH K. HAYES, .... Boston. 

Rev. GILBERT HAVEN, . . . Boston. 

Hon. MILO HILDRETH, . . . Northborough. 

DEA. H. HUMPHREYS, . . . Dorchester. 

FRANCIS HOWE, .... Brookfield. 

C. D. HARTSHORNE, . . . Walpole. 

EDWARD HOLDEN, .... Dorchester. 

THOS. L. HARMAN, .... Boston. 

JOHN L. HAYES, .... Boston. 

LEWIS HAYDEN, .... Boston. 

AMASA HILAND, .... Hingham Centre. 

ALFRED A. HALL, .... Boston. 

Dr. EDWARD JARVIS, . . . Dorchester. 

A. S. JORDAN, Boston. 

FRANKLIN KING, .... Boston. 

JOHN KNEELAND, .... Dorchester. 

ELIJAH E. KNOWLES, . . . Eastham. 

M. P. KENNARD, .... Boston. 

H. A. LOTHROP, .... Sharon. 

Dr. O. MARTIN, . . . . . Worcester. 

JOHN J. MAY, Boston. 

Hon. MARCUS MORTON, ... . Boston. 

J. B. MANN, Boston. 

F. W. G. MAY, Boston. 

Hon. GEORGE H. MUNROE, . . Boston. 

GEORGE C. MANN, .... Boston. 

A. M. McPHAIL, Boston. 

Rev. A. D. MERRILL, . . . Boston. 

JOSHUA MERRILL, .... Boston. 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848, 



WM. B. MERRILL, . 
HENRY A. MARSH, . 
THOS. D. MORRIS, . 
Hox. S. C. MAINE, . 
CURTIS C. NICHOLS. 
EEED'K P. MOSELEY, 
JOHN A. NOWELL, . 
Rev. R. II. NEALE, D. D., 
Hon. WILLARD P. PHILLIPS 
EDWARD L. PIERCE, 
Hon. HENRY L. PIERCE, 
HON. JOHN G. PALFREY, 
Hox. CHAS. A. PHELPS. 
S. A. PORTER, . 
WM. POPE, . 
JOSEPH PRATT, . 
JOHN C. PARK, . 
EDWARD H. PAYSON, 
WENDELL PHILLIPS, 
Rev. A. P. PUTNAM. D. D 
JAMES T. ROBINSON. 
Hun. THOMAS RUSSELL, 
Hon. W. W. RICE, . 
MARSHALL S. RICE, 
SAMUEL B. RINDGE, 
GEORGE W. REED, . 
JOHN L. S^ftHFT, 
CHAS. A. B. SHEPARD, 
CHAS. W. SLACK, . 
H. L. SABIN, 
E. F. STONE, 
S. E. SEWALL, . 
HON. WM. B. SPOONER, 
JAMES M. STONE, . 
Hon. CARL SCHURZ, 
HENRY C. SHEPARD, 
Gen. E. W. sTONE, . 
OTIS SHEPARD, . 
GILBERT E. STREETER, 
JOSEPH SARGENT, . 
J. B. SMITH. 
ELIJAH SHUTE, 
JOSEPH SPRAGUE, . 
Hon. A DIN THAYER. 
CALEB THAYER, 
E. THOMPSON. . 
VELOROUS TAIT. . 



Boston. 
Worcester. 

Boston. 
Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

North Andover. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Cambridge. 

Boston. 

Worcester. 

Boston. 

Worcester. 

Boston. 

Salem. 

Boston. 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

North Adams. 

Boston. 

Worcester. 

Newton Centre. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Williamstown. 

Newburyport. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Washington. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Salem. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

South Hingham. 

Hingham. 

Worcester. 

Blacks tone. 

East Walpole. 

Upton. 



8 



Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 



Rev. JAS. W. THOMPSON 
JOHN A. TUCKER, . 
Dr. DAVID THAYER, 
WILDER S. THURSTON, 
Hon. AMOS TUCK, 
JOS. B. THAXTER, 
JOHN WINSLOW, 
JOSEPH WISWELL 
THOS. C. WALES, 
CHAS. A. WOOD, 
EBEN WHEELWRIGHT 
CALEB WALL, . 
Hon. WM. H. WOOD, 
Col. J. W. WETHERELL, 
DAVID WHITON, 
STARKES WHITON, . 
BELA H. WHITON, . 
E. F. WATERS, . 
GEORGE W. WATERS, 
Prof. WEBSTER, 
J. M. W. YERRINTON, 
R. P. WATERS, . 
JOHN G. WHITTIER, 
ELIZUR WRIGHT, . 
Hon. OLIVER AVARNER 
H. O. HILDRETH, . 
GEORGE F. WILLIAMS, 
FREEMAN WALKER, 

E. B. STODDARD, 
A. G. WALKER, . 
HARTLEY WILLLAMS, 
J. W. ALDEN, . 
Dr. LUTHER PARKS, 
Hon. ELI THAYER, . 
ALBERT TOLMAN, . 
W. H. FOX, . 

F. B. SANBORN, . 
J. C. LINDSLEY, 
H. G. PARKER, . 
WM. WITHINGTON, . 
ABRAHAM PAYNE, . 
GEORGE F. OSBORNE, 
STEPHEN C. WRIGHTINGTON 
NATHANIEL C. NASH, 
WILLARD SEARS, . 
JAS. H. UPHAM,. 



Jamaica Plain. 

Dorchester Lower Mills. 

Boston. 

Lynn. 

Exeter, N. H. 

Hingham. 

New York. 

Milton. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Dorchester. 

Worcester. 

Middlehorongh. 

Worcester. 

Hingham. 

Hingham. 

Hingham Centre. 

Boston. 

Newton Centre. 

Wheatou, 111. 

Boston. 

Beverly. 

Dan vers. 

Boston. 

Arlington. 

Dedham. 

Boston. 

North Brookfield. 

Worcester. 

Worcester. 

Worcester. 

Camhridgeport. 

Boston. 

Worcester. 

Worcester. 

Taunton. 

Concord. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Dorchester. 

Providence, R. I. 

Boston. 

Fall River. 

Boston. 

Boston. 

Dorchester. 






Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 9 

In response to this invitation, very many letters were 
received j some of which will be found in the Appendix. 
Most of them indicated the writer's acceptance of the 
invitation, and all expressed a hearty interest in the meet- 
ing, and sympathy with its objects and purposes. 

On the day named, a large number of the guests left 
Boston on the steamer "Rose Standish," at half-past ten 
o'clock, and about an hour later, arrived at Downer 
Landing, where they were cordially met and welcomed by 
Mr. Downer, Edmands' Band, which was stationed on the 
wharf, playing "Auld Lang Syne." A procession was 
formed, headed by the Hon. Charles Francis Adams and 
Mr. Downer, which, preceded by the band, marched to 
the garden, where the time, until the arrival of the noon 
boat, was delightfully spent in the renewal of old acquaint- 
anceships, in reminiscences of the many stirring events 
of the old days of slavery domination, and in rambling 
over the beautiful grounds, which nature has made so 
attractive, and to which art and taste have given addi- 
tional charms. 

Soon after one o'clock, the steamer "John Romer" 
arrived with man}' other guests, who were received in 
the same manner as their predecessors. When they 
reached the garden, a procession was formed, embracing 
nearly two hundred gentlemen, who, escorted by the 
band, marched to the pavilion, where a bountiful tish din- 
ner was served. Mr. Downer presided at the table. On 
his right sat Hon. Charles Francis Adams of Quincy, 
Hon. Wm. Claflin of Newton, Hon. Charles G. Davis of 
Ply mouth, Hon. Geo. F. Hoar and Hon. Adin Thayer of 
Worcester, Hon. Wm. B. Spooner and Rev. Rollin H. 
Neale of Boston. On his left sat Hon. John B. Alley of 
Lynn. Hon. Francis W. Bird of East Walpole, Rev. 
James Freeman Clarke of Boston, Hon. E. Rock wood 
Hoar of Concord, M. P. Kennard, Esq., of Brookline, 
Hon. Wiilard P. Phillips of North Andover, and Hon. 
2 



10 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

Amos Tuck of Exeter, N. H. The Divine blessing was 
invoked by the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, as follows : — 

O thou Infinite Spirit of Justice and Truth, we bless thee for this 
hour, when those who, through long years of struggle for the same 
great principles of right, are allowed to look into each others' faces 
now, and bless thee for the triumph of thine eternal justice here 
below. We bless thee, Heavenly Father, that thou hast taught us by 
thy providence that thy truths are mighty and will prevail, and that 
there is a providence ruling in the affairs of men, and that throughout 
this great land, no foot which is not free shall ever press its soil 
again, and that every man here shall have the right to sit under his 
own tree, and by his own fire, and bless thee for equal and impartial 
rights. And now, we ask nothing for ourselves, for thou hast given 
us all in permitting us to see this great triumph of that which we 
loved better than ourselves ; but we ask that this land of our love 
maybe evermore animated by these great principles of justice and 
right, and that, in this country, no race shall ever be trampled upon, 
and no class ever put down by unequal laws, but that all shall be 
equal and free forever before thee ; which we ask in the name of thy 
divine mercy and thy perfect justice. Amen. 

Mr. Downer. We all very well know that soldiers, 
whether engaged in a good or a bad cause, always fight 
best on full stomachs. That rule will hold good with 
regard to Free-Soilers, who always fight in a good cause ; 
therefore, let us fill the inner man, and then we shall be 
ready to listen to our friends, who, we know, will speak 
the right word in the right place. 

After an hour very agreeably spent in disposing of the 
many good things with which the tables were loaded, the 
assembly was called to order by Mr. Downer, who said : 
I was once in Faneuil Hall when the meeting was about to 
be addressed by that grand old man, now passed away, 
Josiah Quincy, Sr. On rising to speak, he said that, 
fearing to rely on his memory, he had brought his speech 
in his pocket, and I thought I could not do better than 
copy such an illustrious example. 

Mr. Downer then read the following — 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S4S. 11 

ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

3Iy Friend* and Fcllotc Frce-SoiIe?s of 1S4S : 

I bid you a most heartfelt and fervent welcome. I feel, 
as I also believe you feel, that those of us who, either as 
members at the primary meetings, as delegates to the 
Buffalo Convention, or who early acted with the party, 
and who remained faithful to the movement till 1856, 
need no other bond to make us welcome this meeting 
than to know we were of them. With your permission, 
I wish to make a few preliminary remarks, and will then 
yield the chair to one whom it will give you more pleasure 
to listen to than to me. And here let me observe, this 
company was invited to meet with the sole object of in- 
dulging in pleasant reminiscences of the past ; for I know 
when Frce-Soilers meet twenty-nine years after the forma- 
tion of the party at Buffalo, when we recollect how fervent 
and united we were, it cannot be other than cheerful and 
happy. It is intended to be informal, and we anticipate 
listening to those who, twenty-nine years ago, stirred up 
the tires of freedom, when it required some courage and 
backbone to do so. To-day we are met to congratulate 
ourselves that we, living, again clasp each other's hands 
in kindly recollection of those days ; and to-day we are 
met to call up our tender sj'inpathies in memory of the 
departed great, who, if in God's providence it is permitted 
them to look down upon us, we know are with us here in 
sympathy also. 

My friends, it is the custom, when one is about to ad- 
dress a meeting, to speak humbly of one's self; but as I 
stand here, I cannot, for the life of me, avoid appearing 
egotistical. 

A few months ago, when our country was in fear and 
alarm, growing out of the uncertainty of the Presidential 
election, I happened into the office of Mr. Edward L. 
Pierce, the biographer of our lamented Sumner. I said 



12 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

to him : As I meet our old Free-Soilers in the street, their 
patriotism is as fervent as ever ; but they hold all kinds of 
opinions, and I wish we could meet again and light up 
those old fires to cheer and comfort us. He said it was 
an excellent idea. I afterward spoke of it to my old 
friend, Frank W. Bird. The result was this meeting. 
And now, when I look upon these upturned faces, glowing 
with the spirit of 1848, desiring now as then to know 
where true patriotism is pointing and to follow, — when I 
feel we shall hear voices telling us what they think, and 
warming us with the old fires, — I cannot help saying I am 
a pretty cute Yankee to have made for myself the privi- 
lege of opening this meeting. But, gentlemen, though I 
hold the position, don't be alarmed, I will not keep it 
long. I know myself too well for that, and, besides, I 
have another cause for self-elation. When I wrote the 
resolution at the primary meeting in Old Dorchester, 
which was to choose delegates to the Buffalo Convention, 
I tried my hand at prophecy. I must read one to show 
whether I was a good prophet or not : — 

Resolved, That we return our heartfelt thanks to those true patriots, 
Judge Charles Allen and the Hon. Henry Wilson, and those of the 
Ohio and Indiana delegations to the late convention at Philadelphia, 
who, when Freedom's voice was drowned and her spirit crushed, — 
who, when so many were silent, or worse than silent, — resolutely 
spurned the bribe. We believe the time will come, when both at the 
North and at the South, at the East and at the West, their names will 
be honored and remembered, when those who now censure and revile 
them will have sunk into oblivion. 

My friends, I want to recall reminiscences of two who 
were of note in those times. I do it as an example to 
others to do likewise. As I stand now, I see plainly, 
as if a reality, Daniel Webster. He was the god of my 
political idolatry. Ah ! how fervently have I listened to 
his grand constitutional arguments ! How I have burned 
at the words of freedom he spoke for man ! When our 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 13 

Free-Soil party was first started, we thought he was 
with us. There are those of us who know that when 
the late lamented Stephen C. Phillips penned the open- 
ing address to be delivered at Faneuil Hall, TTebster 
revised it, and interlined what he thought was more ap- 
propriate. Alas ! alas ! that was his last effort for 
human freedom ! "We know that evening he went to New 
York, instead of coming down to Faneuil Hall ; we know 
how his friends at Buffalo sought his nomination to the 
Presidency, — not on new pledges, but from his known past 
record. After the nomination of Yan Buren and Adams, 
how bitter he was to us, to Van Buren, and to Taylor ! 
We know it all culminated in his 7th of March speech of 
1850 ; and we know the South, which he courted so hard, 
begrudged him even a poor complimentary vote. My 
friends, if Daniel Webster erred against the record of his 
life and the convictions of his conscience, grievously did 
he pay the penalty. Let us draw the veil over that por- 
tion of his life. Oh ! that he had died a few years sooner, 
or had lived a few years longer ! The first gun at Sumter 
would have set him right. He was my teacher, and from 
him I learned the principles of constitutional liberty. 
Peace to his ashes ! 

I have but one other name to mention, and then I will 
close, — Horace Mann. It was my happy lot to know him 
intimately — most intimately. He was the most self-sac- 
rificing man I ever knew. Forty years ago I resided in 
the same house with him, and our rooms were adjoining- 
It was at the commencement of his educational movement. 
How well I remember his intense labors, extending into 
the early hours of the morning, and the vast correspond- 
ence he maintained ! This he endured for twelve years 
without complaint, and it was only when his successor 
was to be appointed, that he told the Legislature that an 
office and a clerk were needed, and they were readily 
granted. When the mantle of the "old man eloquent" 



14 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

fell upon him by the spontaneous wish of the people, I 
remember the remark he made to me. He said : "I shall 
soon issue my twelfth annual report to the board of edu- 
cation. I think I have laid the foundation of the educa- 
tional movement that has been so dear to me, and I think 
if I give place to others, they now can do more than I can 
in carrying out my plans. I think, if I accept this nom- 
ination, I may do some good in the causes of education, 
temperance, and anti-slavery, and whenever I can strike a 
blow for either of them, I will do it ; but my aspirations 
for political life are over. I shall never again be a party 
man in a political sense." We know the result ; he was 
almost unanimously chosen. He did not enter often into 
debate, but when he did speak, how effective it was ! He 
was much consulted by all parties, and many were the 
anecdotes he told me of conversations with the then fire- 
eating Southerners. His election to the second term was 
made under very different circumstances. Webster's 7th 
of March speech struck a deep and painful wound, and 
it was yet fresh. How hard and how successfully he 
combated it ! The old Whig element of the State was 
arrayed against him. You all remember his taking the 
stump, planting himself on the broad ground, "I have 
only done what I promised to do, — to strike a blow 
against slavery whenever it should array itself against 
freedom ! " You know of his triumphant re-election. 
Before the expiration of his term, he was nominated as 
governor of Massachusetts, but the Free-Soil element had 
not then got into the ascendant. Before the next election, 
he had received an invitation to become the president of 
Antioch College, where he remained until his death. The 
college was not what it had been represented to him. It 
was in debt, with its means of support already exhausted 
in investments ; in fact, I think its foundation was in a 
land speculation. He said to me, consulting me : "I have 
seen much of the West; they are young and 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S4S. 15 

and will hereafter play (he important part in the destinies 
of onr country. I tind the young are inclined to scepticism 
in religion, and the old to bigotry. The Christian sect has 
planted itself on the Bible as the foundation, the inter- 
pretation of which is left to each one's individual mind. 
I can stand on that, and I hope I can give broader and 
higher views than now exist." You know he entered on 
Sundays the pulpit, and had large congregations from all 
the country around. During the whole of his remaining 
life, he struggled with their poverty and with their little 
dissensions. At the time of his death, the college had 
been sold, and passed into Unitarian hands, and was out 
of debt, but still poor. His constitution had become 
enfeebled, and his person much emaciated by hard and 
continual work, and he gradually sunk under it ; but he 
continued his labors to the very end. I do not think 
he knew how worn his system was. On the day he died, 
his physician told him he had but a very few hours to live. 
It struck him with much surprise, and he questioned him 
closely. When convinced it was so, he said, "Then I 
have no time to lose," and calling a few of the remaining 
students — for it was vacation time — and his family around 
him, he gave them wise counsel, to be true to their highest 
conviction, and to rely on a just God. He even went so 
far as to point out to students their individual temptations. 
When he got through, he said he was fatigued, and would 
rest. And thus passed from earth Horace Mann. He 
had an intuitive intellect, which almost amounted to 
inspiration. He was an intense, hard worker, and many 
were the good works for the prisoner, the insane, and the 
ignorant, that he accomplished. And in the familiar inter- 
course with those he loved, with his wit, his humor, his 
acquirements, and his ever out-cropping benevolence, oh, 
how dear he became to us ! His life was a useful one, 
and his end a triumphant and happy one. 

My friends, I have made these few remarks on two 



16 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

individuals whose lives stamped themselves deep in my 
memory. I hope that by those who follow me the strong 
impressions left on them by our departed Free-Soil great 
men may be given to us ; that our meeting may be a 
cheerful and happy one. And let it be remembered, that 
after the lapse of twenty -nine years from our convention, 
the slave is free, and to-day the great interest of us all is 
to have one country, and a firm and happy Union. I care 
not how it comes. Carpet-bagism is buried in the grave 
that knows no resurrection. Whether it comes from the 
rejuvenated Republican party or the Democratic party, or 
the cream of both acting together, God speed its coming/ 
I now have the great pleasure of calling to the chair I 
perhaps have occupied too long, one who has consented to 
serve us, and whose life is stamped in living characters, — 
the Hon. Charles Francis Adams. 



ADDRESS OF THE HON. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 

Gentlemen : — Our friend, Mr. Downer, has been 
pleased to summon us to this, his magnificent seat of 
repose, on a day which he has himself selected as being 
an anniversary of a most interesting event in our politi- 
cal history. On the 9th of August, 1848, an assembly 
of delegates from a large number of the free States of 
our Union was held at Buffalo, in the State of New 
York, to consider the question, What might be done, 
on the approach of the election, then about to be 
held, of a new President and Vice-President, to change 
the current of the national policy, which had been long 
setting in the direction of a permanent establishment 
of the institution of human slavery as an overruling 
power in the State forever and aye. Our worthy 
host has been pleased to call upon me to preside on 
this occasion, for no reason I can imagine except 
that it happened to me to have been called to the same 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848, 17 

duty on that occasion, twenty-nine years ago. At that- 
time he and I were entitled still to he counted among 
the working members of society. But now that we hoth 
are on the verge prescribed in Scripture as closing all 
worldly enjoyments. I am led to conclude that he gathers 
us around him as a last chance for a good friendly talk, 
once more to tight our battles over again. [Applause.] 
Permit me, then, to remind you, as briefly as possible, 
what was the state of the country prior to the time when 
the demonstration at Buffalo was made. From the close 
of the short war with Great Britain, in 1815, to the year 
1821, but a single question of serious importance had 
agitated the people. That question was connected with 
the admission of the Territory of Missouri into the Union, 
and involved the right of Congress to annex a condition 
to it of excluding the institution of negro slavery from its 
borders. This was the first great battle for liberty, and 
it ended in what went by the name of the Missouri com- 
promise, or, in clearer terms, a bargain that was not a 
settlement. Twenty years passed away, and it began to 
be apparent that the extension of the political power 
favored by the Missouri decision had become a ruling 
principle among the slaveholders, and the entire policy 
of the country had been gradually made to bend to the 
establishment of an idol stronger than the old image of 
liberty, — the grim idol of slavery, threatening to spread 
its baleful influence over indefinite millions of human 
beings yet unborn. The first indications of dissatisfac- 
tion with this prospect of the future did not make their 
appearance among the more active and prominent states- 
men of the time. Content with the position they had 
gained by their public services, they were not disposed 
to shake it by countenancing startling problems. It was 
reserved for a wholly different class of the community to 
enter upon this formidable enterprise of bearding the lion 
in his den. Standing as we do now, independent and 

3 



18 Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848. 

impartial judges of the past, I am free to say that we owe 
a great debt of gratitude to that small band of courageous 
men, and women too, who, having no fear of obloquy 
before them, and yet conscious of the danger that might 
beset them from their adoption of a most unpopular cause, 
went on boldly, in the face of a malignant and dangerous 
opposition, to uphold with steady perseverance the cause 
of justice, of humanity, and of truth. [Applause.] Many 
of the heroes and heroines of that day have passed away 
from among us and entered upon their reward. But a few 
still remain to enjoy the proud satisfaction of a faithful 
performance of a hazardous duty, recognized by the joint 
acclamations of all later generations of mankind. 

But I must hasten with my story. 

For a time the slave power went on, apparently having 
its own way without opposition. State after State was 
marked out and admitted to the Union from the territory 
already acquired, recognizing slavery, until it was ex- 
hausted, yet the power did not quite keep up with the cor- 
responding progress of the free States. It was then that 
the plan was devised of acquiring the vast regions exclu- 
sively in the South and West, in which it might be practi- 
cable to spread the hateful policy indefinitely. Beginning 
with the accession of General Jackson to power, it went on 
steadily, whenever opportunity offered to the leaders to gain 
their points, either fairly, or when not fairly, by force or 
fraud. At last the community began to grow slowly con- 
scious that matters were going wrong. Florida had been 
fairly bought, but Texas had been stolen from the Mexi- 
cans through the expedient of pretended colonization. The 
next step was to pick a quarrel with Mexico. In order 
to bring this about, it became necessary to carry an elec- 
tion of a proper agent to the Presidency. To that end it 
was not deemed prudent to bring forward any well-known 
leader for a slaveholcling candidate. The managers finally 
pitched upon James K. Polk, a respectable gentleman from 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848. 19 

Tennessee, once speaker of the house, but so little known 
that the story went about, that when the news of his 
nomination came to the ears of the assemblies of the 
faithful in the North, they tirst bravely cheered James K. 
Polk, and next shouted the question, Who was James K. 
Polk? 

Against this feeble nomination the Whigs presented the 
name of Henry Clay, a man so well known to everybody 
for his long and brilliant public services, that his party, in 
comparing his name with that of Polk, scoffed at the pos- 
sibility of failing to elect their favorite. Yet, when the 
election came round, lo and behold, James K. Polk was 
chosen ! You may ask what was the reason of this singu- 
lar change. It was all because of a letter written by Mr. 
Clay, giving his views of the proposal to annex Texas, 
which he wrote so equivocally, that, when it came to be 
known in Western Xew York, it alienated from him just 
about votes enough to turn the scale in that State against 
him, and that turned the scale again in the electoral vote of 
the whole country. The slaveholders triumphed, and the 
victors set about at once to secure the profits of the vic- 
tory. Not satisfied with Texas only, their next step was 
to pick a quarrel with Mexico, because she did not approve 
that sort of stealing. This was so skilfully managed as 
to involve an ultimate appeal to war. Of all the flagi- 
tious schemes of the slaveholders to extend their power 
over new territory, no one has ever seemed to me so 
utterly indefensible as this. As one of many zealous 
friends of the cause of freedom, I had worked my full 
share in behalf of Mr. Clay and the Whigs, notwithstand- 
ing his equivocal letter. And when we saw the atrocity of 
the method now adopted by the slave party to extend the 
limits of their victory, we fully expected that it would be 
met with a corresponding unflinching resistance by the 
united efforts of all their opponents. You may judge of 
our surprise, when we found that there was no intention in 



20 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

the party to regard these questions as a party at all. Every 
member was to vote as he thought best. Some of them 
actually voted for the war. From that instant my owu 
attachment to this organization became so weakened, that 
I decided to decline any further the trust which had been 
liberally extended to me in the Massachusetts Legislature 
for several years. Neither was I alone in holding these 
sentiments. As the policy of the slaveholders went on, 
many persons of great weight of character seemed more 
and more satisfied with the utter indifference manifested 
by the Whigs. The tone of their newspapers was abso- 
lutely servile, and the spirit of opposition became com- 
pletely hushed. A few of us, after consultation together, 
decided that we could not continue silent in this emer- 
gency. The chief difficulty was in finding any political 
organ that would express our sentiments as freely as we 
desired. Just at that moment it so happened that a news- 
paper press which had been started in the height of the 
late election, made known to me first as edited by a son of 
Joseph T. Buckingham of the " Courier," well remembered 
by many of us here, and which had lost all chance of 
establishing itself after the loss of the election, in pure 
desperation was offered to me by the printers who con- 
trolled it. The paper bore the name of the " Boston 
Whig." After some conversation respecting the details, I 
was so far tempted by this opportunity offered to the knot 
of friends who sympathized with me in maintaining the 
ground we had taken against the backsliding of our party, 
as to call them together and lay the matter fully before 
them. The result was that a meeting was called at "Lobby 
No. 13," in the State House, by John G. Palfrey, then 
Secretary of the Commonwealth [applause] , to which had 
been invited by me Stephen C. Phillips of Salem [ap- 
plause], Charles Sumner of Boston [applause], and Henry 
Wilson of Natick [applause]. These three, and Dr. Pal- 
frey and myself, constituted the little company. After 



Reunion of Free- So Hers of 1848. 21 

inueh discussion and a variety of opinions, it was ulti- 
mately deeided to accept the offer made to us, and to 
enter on the experiment. To that a contribution of 
money was to be made. Dr. Palfrey agreed to assume 
the responsibility for one-fifth of the sum required, Mr. 
Phillips and I, respectively, took two-fifths, while the 
other two gentlemen, less favored b}' fortune, pledged 
themselves to make up for the difference in earnest and 
vigorous support of the undertaking, and that they faith- 
fully gave. 

Such was the begiuning of the Republican party in the 
State of Massachusetts. Of all the men engaged in this 
primitive undertaking, desperate as it seemed, no single 
one contributed more to its success than John G. Palfrey. 
[Applause.] Apart from his pecuniary assistance, which 
was large in its proportion to his means, he began the 
campaign with that very able series of papers on the slave 
power, which were afterwards collected and circulated, 
producing a great effect on opinion wherever they went. 
[At this point Mr. F. W. Bird rose and said : " Dr. Pal- 
frey is physically unable to be here to-day. I ask the 
audience to rise and give three cheers for that veuerable 
and honored man." The audience rose and gave three 
hearty cheers.] Xo more sterling patriot and statesman 
is to be found in the long list of our public men. He 
still survives, the only one, except nryself, of a company 
all of whom put in their strength to bring about the great 
revolution that has since taken place in our land. It is 
no more than just that posterity should retain the memory 
of their names forever. 

It becomes me to add "another name, — that of one who 
sympathized with us entirely in our undertaking, and who 
did marvels in promoting it at the very start. Need I 
mention the name of Charles Allen [applause], whose 
eloquent appeal to the people of "Worcester County, of 
whom he was the chosen representative, laid a permanent 



22 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

foundation in that region in favor of freedom that has 
remained solid down to this day? 

But the time warns me that I must be brief. We fought 
the battle of freedom in the "Whig" with various fortune, 
until the time came for a new election to the Presidency. 
The question then came up, What should we do? We 
had not separated from the Whig party, nor did we mean 
to separate unless we should clearly see that the princi- 
ples professed by all in common were to be deliberately 
abandoned on occasions by the greater number. The 
nominations of the respective parties were about to be 
made. The administration of President Polk had ended 
by a triumphant war, attended by an enormous accretion 
of new territory for the benefit of slavery. Of that war, 
General Taylor had been the successful guide ; hence his 
popularity had grown in proportion. Yet the fact was 
indisputable, that he was a citizen of a slave State, and 
a proprietor of large estates on which he kept large num- 
bers of negroes in slavery. How, then, could he be made 
acceptable to any true friends of freedom ? On the other 
hand, the Democratic party, responsible for the making of 
the war, and pledged to a policy favoring the extension of 
slavery in the territory acquired by it, brought forward 
General Lewis Cass as a faithful exponent of their estab- 
lished policy. In this emergency, what was our conster- 
nation when we found that the Whig opponent of General 
Cass was to be Genera] Taylor, the man of all others who 
had by his victories done the most of all to uphold the 
administration, — a large slaveholder, pledged by his prop- 
erty and his negro laborers to protect, if not to extend, 
the odious system which we had so fiercely denounced. 
In this dilemma, the painful question arose, What was to 
be done to maintain our consistency ? To vote for Lewis 
Cass would be giving a sanction to the policy of the war, 
which we abhorred. To vote for General Taylor would 
be glorifying the agent who had done so much to promote 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1S4S. 23 

results which we held in dread. There was one alter- 
native, and that was a resort to a third nomination. It 
could not hope to be successful, or to be more than a sol- 
emn protest against the tendency of both parties. Yet, 
after a careful survey of the ground, there seemed to be 
reasonable cause for believing that our action, whatever it 
might be, would have no small effect in consolidating a 
party that might overcome resistance in time, if not then. 
The only question of difficulty, was whom we should 
nominate as our candidate. On the one side there had 
been a considerable secession in the State of New York 
from the Democratic nomination of General Cass. On 
the other there was an almost equal disgust among the 
AVhig moderate men at the nomination of General Taylor, 
and this feeling pointed very distinctly to the substitution 
of Judge John McLean of Ohio. 

For one I must acknowledge that I was much exercised 
at the time by the unfortunate turn that these elections 
had taken. To vote foj; General Taylor was flying in the 
face of the principles we had solemnly put forward. A 
resort to General Cass was equally out of the question. 
How it might be with Mr. Van Buren, we could not tell. 
In any event, it seemed indispensable to take steps to 
assemble another convention. A very considerable num- 
ber of persons of influence gave in favorable responses to 
the proposition, and the requisite steps were taken to carry 
it into effect. Buffalo, in New York, was fixed upon as 
the place, and the ninth day of August the time, for the 
assembling of this new combination. Many people, par- 
ticularly in the State of Massachusetts, had been much 
roused by the events which had taken place ; and, as a 
consequence, a full delegation was sent to Buffalo, embra- 
cing many of the most promising young men growing up 
in the State. In the district in which I lived, the meeting 
was pleased to name me as one of the delegates, and I 
cheerfully obeyed the call. In a few days I found myself 



2i Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

in the midst of the multitude assembled for that great 
meeting. There have been many such assemblages since, 
far larger in numbers, and perhaps more skilful in their 
modes of operation, but for plain, downright honesty of 
purpose to effect high ends without a whisper of bargain 
and sale, I doubt whether any similar one has been its 
superior, either before or since. [Applause.] The first 
duty after our arrival was to consult with our brethren of 
other States, respecting the selection of a candidate to 
represent our views, as opposed to those entertained by 
both the older parties. I soon discovered that a nomina- 
tion would certainly be made, and the selection of the 
man would be narrowed down between Judge McLean 
and Martin Van Buren, one a Whig, the other a Democrat. 
The question was which of the two was to be preferred. 
His party character was of little consequence. I think I 
have already said that my own inclinations tended to the 
preference of Judge McLean, and to that end I applied at 
once to the delegates from Ohio fgr concerted action in his 
behalf. The chief person in that highly respectable dele- 
gation was Mr. S. P. Chase [applause], a promising 
statesman, whose later career is familiar to you all; and 
to him I was referred for authentic information of Judge 
McLean's position. You may judge of my surprise, when 
I was informed that the judge was severely tried, — waver- 
ing on the anxious seat, — with strong aversion to be pitted 
against any rival candidate. The effect of this wet blanket 
over our hopes you can readily imagine. 

For some such emergency as now presented itself I had 
not been altogether unprepared. In the event of the 
retreat of Judge McLean, it was obvious that the friends 
of Mr. Van Buren would necessarily, by their union and 
organization, have the advantage over any other public 
man whom we could persuade to stand, and these we could 
count on our fingers' ends. Not entirely blind to this 
possibility, I had already, in my private capacity, taken a 



Reunion of Free-SoUers of 1S4S. 25 

step on my own responsibility, to open the way for this 
possible alternative. On the 16th of July, — that is, three 
weeks previous, — I had addressed a confidential letter to 
Mr. Van Bnren, reciting the nature of our movement, 
and the encouraging symptoms in his Presidential career 
adverse to the Texas policy, and calling upon him to give 
me such an explicit answer as I might have it in my power 
to use in his favor in case of an emergency, which I appre- 
hended might take place. Martin Van Bnren has long 
since passed away, and his confidential letter in answer 
to mine can never do him any harm, if it should now 
pass into the province of American history. 
Here it is. and I will read it to you : — 

[confidential.] 

Lixdexayalp, July 24, 1848. 

My Dear Sir : — I have received your letter, and although you do 
not desire an answer, I cannot in justice to my own feelings refrain 
from expressing the satisfaction I have derived from its good sense, 
liberal and manly spirit. 

It has afforded me much pleasure to find that you at least under- 
stand what it is so difficult to make most people comprehend, — "the 
involuntary character of the relation which I occupy to the public." 
So far was I from desiring to be a candidate for the Presidency, that 
it would have required other and stronger considerations than those 
which were then presented to me to have prevented me from declining 
the office itself, if those who asked me to be a candidate had possessed 
the power of placing it at my disposal. When the letter which is in 
part the subject of your approbation, and, in all, of fair criticism, was 
written, nothing could have been farther from my mind than that it 
would be considered by the public in connection with my present 
position. You will see by the terms of the letter addressed to me by 
the New York delegation, that they were well apprised of the char- 
acter of my resolution upon one of the points of their address. All 
that they had a right to expect was an unreserved expression of my 
opinions upon the other questions they presented, and this I gave 
them with pleasure. The most prominent men in the convention, 
who were sincerely desirous of respecting my known wishes, lost the 
control of its movements in regard to the nomination after the read- 
ing of my letter, and the result is known to all. Although brought 
before the country in this unexpected and extraordinary manner, it 
did not require much reflection to satisfy mo that the course I have 

4 



26 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

adopted was the only one that was open to me, and to that I will, of 
course, adhere. This matter will be found more fully noticed in a 
letter from me to the industrial congress recently assembled at Phila- 
delphia, which will appear in the " Evening Post" of to-morrow. In 
that I have also set forth, after full consideration, the course I design 
to pursue in regard to any further expositions of my views upon 
public questions. My reasons for adopting it are given as fully as 
the limits of such a document would permit. They will, I hope, be 
satisfactory to many, but, whether they are or not, I shall feel myself, 
constrained to adhere to the position I have taken. 

It can, under existing circumstances, be scarcely necessary to say, 
that if any of your friends think they can give more effect to their 
principles upon the main subject, by taking a course different from 
that to which your own feelings seem inclined, or if it would for any 
reasons be more agreeable to them to do so, their conduct in the. 
matter will not be disagreeable to me in any sense. My solicitude 
has been, not to get nominations, but to keep clear of them, and 
nothing can be done at Buffalo that is founded on good sense, and 
looks in good faith to the advancement of the great principle I hold 
sacred, which will cause me either regret or mortification. 

I have marked this letter confidential, because I have received a 
vast number of communications upon the same subject, which I am 
compelled to leave unanswered, as I have done, I believe, in every 
case except yours, and I desire to avoid giving offence as far as I 
can. The views it takes I do not hesitate to express to all who desire 
to understand them. Whilst, therefore, reasonable caution is observed 
in regard to the fact of our correspondence, I shall be content that 
you speak of my opinions and dispositions as you now understand 
them. 

I am very respectfully and truly yours, 

M. Van Buren. 

Charles Francis Adams, Esq. 

This letter had been received on the 20th of July. 
Although somewhat wordy, it substantially ratified and 
confirmed his former declarations and his policy, which 
practically cost him the Democratic nomination. That 
went to General Cass. There was then nothing left to us 
to choose, but to raise up Martin Van Buren as the most 
courageous man of high position in the two parties willing 
then to hold up our standard. His clear answer to the 
invitation sealed the bond, and from the 19th of August, 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848. 27 

1848, the great party dates the organization which, through 
weal and through woe, at last carried to a triumphant 
close a struggle for a mighty principle which, for its 
length and severity, is entitled to claim a high and honor- 
able rank in the annals of the world. 

As for Massachusetts, you all doubtless remember the 
result of that election, which forced an entering-wedge 
iuto the Whig column that ultimately effected its downfall. 
In contrast with this struggle all later questions sink into 
insignificance. Let us rejoice that we now live in the full 
enjoyment of all the blessings that attend good govern- 
ment, — peace, freedom, and justice, environed by plenty 
and supported by law. 

I have, I fear, Mr. Downer, intrenched much too far on 
the festivities of this occasion and deprived your guests of 
the privilege of hearing the experience of others whom I 
see around me, all of them more or less associated with 
the event you have been pleased to celebrate to-day. 

Gentlemen, during the period in which I had the honor 
to serve our State, there occurred an event of great 
interest, in which it happened to be my fate to be some- 
what engaged. I do not know why it was, but somehow 
or other, whenever any question about slavery came up 
in the General Court, in either branch, it seemed to be 
the disposition of the Speaker to send it to me, on a com- 
mittee. Under these circumstances, I had a great many 
questions presented ; but one of the most serious ones 
was in connection with a law of South Carolina, which 
prescribed that when any negro should arrive in any port 
of that State, no matter in what vessel he was, he should 
be taken at once to prison, and kept there during the 
whole time the vessel remained in port. There was so 
much dissatisfaction created by that law, both in England 
and here, that it was made the subject of remonstrance, 
and accordingly a petition was sent to the General Court, 



28 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

requesting that some measures might be taken in order, 
if possible, to protect those men. As usual, that petition 
was referred to me, as the chairman of a committee, and 
it was my fate, or my good fortune, to be able to make a 
report, the substance of which was a request to the Gov- 
ernor to take the necessary measures to communicate to 
the State of South Carolina the dissatisfaction of Massa- 
chusetts with this law. We therefore obtained from the 
Legislature authority for him to send an agent to South 
Carolina for that purpose. I need not tell you, gentle- 
men, that that agent was Mr. Samuel Hoar, and how 
he was treated in his mission. [Loud applause.] He has 
gone from us, but he has left behind him two distinguished 
gentlemen whom I have in my eye, who have each in turn 
done great service to the cause and to the country. 
[Renewed applause.] I therefore call upon the elder of 
those gentlemen to say a word on this occasion. [Ap- 
plause.] 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. E. ROCKWOOD HOAR. 

Mr. Chairman, Friends : — A very estimable lady, to 
whom I was once introduced in Washington, asked me if 
Mr. Hoar, of the House of Representatives, was not my 
brother, and I admitted he was. Said she, "He is con- 
siderably older than you, isn't he?" I told her there 
was a difference of ten years between us. She looked 
at me a moment, and said she supposed he was older, 
but had no idea it was so much. And as he is in public 
life and I am not, I should much have preferred, Mr. 
Chairman, that whatever might have fallen to the lot of 
our family in the way of speech-making, should have been 
conferred upon him. 

I have imitated our excellent host and yourself, sir, by 
bringing no other speech here than what I have in my 
pocket, and I don't know that I ever experienced so much 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S4S. 29 

satisfaction in finding my pocket empty. I am very much 
obliged to Mr. Downer for the privilege of being here, and 
on looking around at this assembly, bringing back the 
memory of almost or quite thirty years, and looking up 
at these rafters, I can almost imagine that I sec here, 
not exactly hung up, because the}' are down on the floor, 
what is left of the seed-corn of that generation. I believe 
that the men here assembled exercised that function as 
much as any body of men that could now be assembled, — 
the seed-corn from which the crop has come which we 
have all witnessed. I think it is pleasant to go back into 
those days of memory. You have very fully gone over 
them, sir, and as I have no speech to make, I will not 
take up the time of this company with any attempt to 
follow in your footsteps. 

I remember those who are gone of the faithful and able 
men who were anions: our leaders and our brethren in 
that cause, and I am happy, sir, I believe for the first 
time in my life, in paying a humble tribute to the late 
Mr. Van Buren. Our support of him personally in that 
contest of 1848 was not enthusiastic, and the thing I 
remember most distinctly about it was an observation 
made just after the nomination at the Buffalo Convention 
by an old farmer from the western part of the State of 
New York, who was a member of the convention, who 
had been trained as a Whig, and to whom, as to me, 
the associations with Mr. Van Buren were by no means 
fragrant. He was sorely disappointed at the nomina- 
tion, but concluded to support it, as we all did eventu- 
ally, uncaring for the consequences. " Well," said he, 
"I suppose we shall have to take him, and I shall support 
him ; and there is one good thing about him ; I always 
understood that he stuck strong to his side and to what- 
ever he went for, for the time being. I remember that 
when he said 'the spiles to the victors,' the victors bad 
'em." 



30 Reunion of Free- Boilers s of 1848. 

The President. I regret very much that I am de- 
prived of the opportunity of calling upon the brother of 
our friend who has just sat down, as I should probably 
have done, for the reason that he has requested me not to 
call on him. [Cries of "Call him out," "Hoar."] I 
think, gentlemen, the only authority which would be 
likely to operate upon him would come from you, your- 
selves. [Applause.] 

Three cheers were then given for Senator Hoar, and the 
President added, "I think it is impossible, under these 
circumstances, that he can refuse you." 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. GEORGE F. HOAR. 

Mr. President : — I requested you not to call upon me 
on this occasion for two very satisfactory reasons. The 
first is, that I have been laboring under a very trouble- 
some abscess in one of my ears, which so oppresses that 
as to deprive me of the sense of hearing on one side, and 
so oppresses my brain that if I were to attempt to make a 
speech, you would desire to be deprived of the sense of 
hearing on both sides before I got through. [Laughter.] 
The other reason was this : That the people of Worces- 
ter, emulating the habit of their associates and predeces- 
sors in the Free-Soil movement of 183:8, undertook to 
make among themselves some arrangements suited for 
this occasion, before communicating them to the outside 
world, and we agreed that no man should be permitted to 
make a speech here to-day, or be called upon, who could 
not show his title to the respect of the audience, by prov- 
ing that he had made one in the year 1848, and I am not 
quite old enough to come within that excellent rule. My 
relation to the Free-Soil party of 1848 — being then a law 
student, just out of college, and just past my twenty-first 
birthday — was that of folding the circulars written by my 
elder brother [laughter] , and helping direct them, which 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 31 

invited the assemblage of the meeting on the twenty- 
eighth day of June in that year, — the State Convention at 
Worcester, — from which the convention at Buffalo, whose 
history in such an interesting manner has been related by 
the Chairman, sprung. The meeting was held on the 
Common, in Worcester. I was at that time a boy in the 
full flush of 3'outhful hope and expectation, having studied, 
as other New England boys had studied, the lives of our 
Revolutionary fathers, and the history of the great battles 
which liberty had won in the past. I had the privilege of 
attending that meeting, as did many gentlemen into whose 
faces I am now looking ; and it was a scene which few 
persons who witnessed it will ever be likely to forget, — 
made interesting from the sublimity of the step which its 
members were about to take ; made interesting for its 
great consequences in the freedom of the race ; made in- 
teresting for the subsequent distinction and influence in 
our political history of the gentlemen who made it up, 
and who managed it. 

The prominent person in that meeting has already been 
alluded to by the Chairman, — a gentleman who, it seems 
to me, I exaggerate nothing in saying, was the superior in 
intellectual force to any man who has lived within the 
limits of the Commonwealth in my time. I allude to 
Charles Allen. [Great applause.] He was a man of 
slender frame, unequal to great physical labor, of deli- 
cate voice, capable only of addressing silent and listening 
audiences ; but yet, in the sagacity which selected a posi- 
tion, whether at the bar or in political life, and in the 
intellectual power which defended it against all antago- 
nists, it seems to me he never had a superior or an equal 
in this Commonwealth, within the memory of the present 
generation. [Applause.] 

Judge Allen had been the delegate of the people of the 
Worcester district, then constituting, with the Genesee 
district in New York and the Lancaster district in Penn- 



32 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

sylvania, the three strongest Whig districts in the country. 
He had attended that convention at Philadelphia, when the 
Whig party, after a long absence from political power, 
seemed just about to grasp the administration of the 
country, and under the prestige of General Taylor's pop- 
ularity, to compromise itself by doing an injustice and a 
wrong as the price of a long lease of power and authority 
in the country. And in that convention, that slender, 
quiet man, with his feeble voice, had the hardihood to 
rise in the midst of that excited and exultant assemblage 
and pronounce that the Whig party was dissolved. [Great 
applause.] 

But with the exception of his personal knowledge of 
the temper of the city and county which he himself rep- 
resented, I suppose Judge Allen could not have given a 
good reason for supposing that in that declaration he 
should have the support of a dozen villages throughout 
the length and breadth of this land. Both parties — all the 
prominent statesmen, all the forces of national and state 
governments throughout these thirty States — were pledged 
to the support of slavery, or to a refusal, at any rate, to 
interfere with its progress ; and yet Judge Allen presented 
the sublime spectacle of coming home from Philadelphia 
to appeal to the people of the United States to make good 
that prophecy. 

There is another reminiscence of that time, which I may 
perhaps be pardoned in alluding to, somewhat to the credit 
of my own native town of Concord. The people of that 
little town — the natives — have been sometimes charged 
with an overweening sense of its importance, and vanity 
in regard to its excellence. I am not one of those indi- 
viduals who share that opinion. I think, taking the town 
of Concord on one side and the rest of the world on the 
other, on the whole, there is quite, or at any rate nearly, 
as much excellence in the other part of the world as there 
is in the town of Concord. [Laughter. ] But however that 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848. 33 

niay be, it happened that the first three great public meet- 
ings which were held to indorse the action of Charles Allen 
and Henry Wilson, and to found a new party on the prin- 
ciples which the}' had announced when they bolted from 
the Philadelphia Convention, were presided over by natives 
of that town, — one in Lowell, by our genial and lamented 
friend, whose writings have passed into the political liter- 
ature of the countr}', the late William S. Robinson 
[applause] ; another, the meeting on the 28th of June, 
on the Common, at Worcester, presided over by Samuel 
Hoar ; and the other, a vast meeting held in the City 
Hall, at Worcester, to receive Judge Allen on his return, 
presided over by our honored and excellent friend, Mr. 
Albert Tolman, who now does me the honor to listen 
to me. That meeting was held on the 15th of June, 
preliminary to the great State convention on the 28th. 
At that State convention assembled a very remarkable 
company of men. There, on the platform, was our dis- 
tinguished President of to-day, uttering by inherited 
right the famous sentence: "Sink or swim, live or die, 
survive or perish, I give my heart and my hand to this 
movement " [applause], and, as was well said by a 
speaker who followed, "with the voice of the Revolu- 
tion upon his lips." There was the manly form of 
Charles Sumner [applause], in the splendor and vigor 
and magnetic power of his youthful eloquence, — a power 
which he never, it seemed to me, fully recovered after 
the assault upon him in the Senate Chamber by Pres- 
ton Brooks. There, too, was the noble head of Charles 
Allen, with its exquisite lines [applause], comely as was 
ever carved in cameo by Italian artist on costliest stone or 
shell. Others whom we should be glad to remember on 
this day were there. There was Erastus Hopkins [ap- 
plause], a man of intellectual vigor and eloquence, prob- 
ably surpassed by none of the gentlemen engaged in that 



34 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

movement in the power of stirring and stimulating a 
crowded audience by public speech, — a gentleman now 
well represented in this Commonwealth by his accom- 
plished and promising son. There, too, was Stephen C. 
Phillips, whose name is well represented here to-day. 
[Applause.] 

And what a lesson, my friends, has been the result of 
that little meeting, which assembled amid the jeers and 
the sneers and the scoffs of a hostile press and an incred- 
ulous people, in showing that, in political movements, a 
reliance on simple justice, on the simple law of equality, 
on simple truth, never will fail in human history, and 
never will fail of support by the American people ! 
[Applause.] The Whig leaders of that day, the Dem- 
ocratic leaders of that day, the men who opposed this 
little movement, with its twenty or thirty thousand people 
in Massachusetts alone in the country behind it, have 
gone, almost all of them, to forgotten graves. The his- 
tory, in diplomacy, in the Cabinet, in the Senate chamber, 
of the politics of America, from that day to this, is largely 
the history of that little band who assembled in Worcester. 
In the great emergencies of the country through which it 
has passed, when its diplomacy was to be conducted, in 
those dark days of the war, at the first court in Europe ; 
when, after the war, its rights were to be maintained in 
that great tribunal at Geneva, a gentleman who had shown 
the American people his reliance on the sense of right 
and of justice against great majorities and great powers, 
was the gentleman whom his country selected for these 
important trusts. [Great applause.] When Massachu- 
setts sent a man to the Senate chamber to conduct the 
great debate of liberty in the face of hostile parties, 
Charles Sumner, another of that little band, was chosen. 
[Great applause. ] The forces — the political forces — which 
overthrew slavery and its two great armies, — the Whig 
and Democratic parties, — were organized by Henry Wil- 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 35 

son, the young mechanic, who espoused the cause of 
liberty at the same time and place. [Loud applause.] 

But, my friends, I have detained you longer with these 
reminiscences than I had any right to do,' and I should 
much prefer to give place to some gentlemen who took 
part in these events, not as I did, as spectators merely, 
or voters, but as actors and leaders. 

Mr. Dowxer. In one of those resolutions that I offered 
twenty-nine years ago, there is this expression : " That we 
express our gratitude to those faithful friends of freedom 
at "Washington, Joshua R. Giddings, John G. Palfrey, 
and Amos Tuck." Mr. Tuck has never acknowledged this 
to me at all, but I have caught him here. 

The President . "We should all be extremely gratified 
to hear from Mr. Tuck, and I will say that it would be a 
personal favor to me, for it is a long time since I have 
had the pleasure of seeing him. I have not forgotten that 
his struggle was no trifle in New Hampshire. I remem- 
ber that for a long time that State was considered by us 
as abandoned to the evil one, but, after all, New Hamp- 
shire came out bright, by the efforts of gentlemen like 
Mr. Tuck. 



ADDRESS OF THE HON. AMOS TUCK. 

I feel it to be a fearful thing to speak to these learned 
men of Massachusetts, but, born upon soil which was 
Massachusetts, as was the State of Maine before its 
admission to the Union, and now hailing from a State 
which is acknowledged to have done something toward 
building up Massachusetts, both in mind and material, I 
shall claim exemption from criticism, — all that exemption 
which would be accorded to one of your own sons who 
was feeble in speech and unlearned in the arts of oratory. 



36 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

This convention is not one which assembles with the 
ordinary credentials, but we have credentials dating back 
thirty years. They are not made up by the officers of 
caucuses called within a week past ; but those credentials 
consist of acts done many years ago, and no man can buy 
those credentials, any more than Simon Magus could buy 
the power to cast out devils. [Laughter and applause.] 
No one is rightfully a member of this convention or of 
this meeting, called by our friend Mr. Downer, to whom 
it may not be said by the Master, "Inasmuch as ye did it 
unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto 
me." If that can be said of those who were active thirty 
years ago, then they may come here. 

Now, you are making up history here, and nobody can 
make up history better, or that is likely to last longer, 
than the people of Massachusetts ; but will you please to 
take account of things that happened prior to 1848? 
Will you not bear in mind, Mr. Downer and gentlemen, 
that two years before, and more than two years previous 
to that date, people in the State of New Hampshire set 
an example of a conflict with party leaders that had never 
been set in this country before? [Applause.] We 
organized an opposition to the Democratic party in 
1844-5, which we have never given up to this day. 
[Renewed applause.] And in 1845, we made a declara- 
tion of principles that constituted the essence of the 
Republican party which was formed at Philadelphia eleven 
years later. I have in my pocket, gentlemen, a call 
which will prove the truth of what I say. Here is an 
original call for a convention on the 2 2d of February, 
1845, signed by 263 Democrats, and drawn up by my 
friend John L. Hayes, now of Cambridge, and myself, 
in one of the jury-rooms in the Exeter court-house. It 
invites Democrats to assemble on the 22d of February, to 
take into consideration the condition of the party, and to 
make a declaration of sentiments in regard to the action 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 37 

which Mr. Hale had previously taken in opposition to the 
annexation of Texas. AVe were soon denounced by the 
great organs of the party, because we would not assent to 
the annexation of Texas, for the reasons given by Mr. 
Calhoun, or for any reasons whatever. TTe organized it 
as a movement of Democrats. Previous to that time, 
many men had remonstrated at different times against the 
action of the Democratic party in New Hampshire, which 
was the strongest Democratic State in the Union ; but 
when they were denounced by the party leaders, and 
either passed over to the Abolitionists or to the "Whig- 
party, they acquiesced in being thus ranked. On the 
other hand, we insisted upon organizing as Democrats. 
TTe refused to leave the Democratic party, on account of 
our declaration of sentiments ; we claimed that Anti- 
Slavery was true Democracy. AVe refused to leave the 
party, and we have refused to leave to this day, until 
we have got a majority of the Democracy of New Hamp- 
shire on the Eepublican side. [Applause.] 

"Well, gentlemen, I wish you to correct the history you 
are making. You have no right, permit me to say, to 
write on the page of history that the Eepublican enter- 
prise in this country began in 1848. Previous to 1848, I 
have told you how we organized this opposition in New 
Hampshire in 1845. W^e began in '44. In '46, at the 
March election, the Independent Democrats held the 
balance of power between the Whig party and the Demo- 
cratic party in New Hampshire. No election of Governor 
by the people having taken place, when the Legislature 
assembled in June of that year, we said to the "Whigs, 
" We will put your man, Anthony Colby, into office as 
Governor of the State, if you will elect John P. Hale to 
the Senate.*' [Applause.] The} r said they would. This 
was in 1846. There was a vacancy in the House of Kep- 
resentatives, and they concluded, after Mr. Hale had been 
put in the Senate, to nominate myself for the House of 



38 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

Eepresentatives, and after several ineffectual efforts, I 
was elected to Congress in 1847, — one year before the 
Buffalo Convention. You had at that time elected John 
G. Palfrey as a regular Whig to the House of Eepre- 
sentatives, and the Whigs of New Hampshire came in to 
the support of myself, simply because of my statement to 
Ichabod Bartlett, the President of the Convention, who 
was sent to consult with me, that I should expect, if 
elected, to be found voting with such men as Joshua R. 
Giddings and John G-. Palfrey. [Applause.] I voted 
with them ; but at the next election, the Whigs of Massa- 
chusetts would not re-elect Mr. Palfrey. Please to put 
that down on the record. [Laughter.] And in the revo- 
lution that took place in the United States, bear in mind 
that the humble State of New Hampshire placed the first 
anti-slavery Senator in the Senate of the United States. 
Joshua R. Giddings, elected as a Whig, John G. Palfrey, 
elected as a Whig, and your humble servant, elected as 
an Anti-Slavery, Independent Democrat, were the anti- 
slavery members of the House, who took their seats in 
the 30th Congress, which assembled in December, 1847. 
You formed your independent organization in Massachu- 
setts in 1848. But when we organized in 1845, when 
we elected an anti-slavery man to the Senate in 1846, 
when we sent an anti-slavery man to the House in 1847, 
Charles Francis Adams, Charles Allen, Charles Sumner, 
and Henry Wilson stood well in the Whig party. But 
the Cotton Whigs rejected Dr. Palfrey, adopted General 
Taylor, and you rejected the Cotton Whigs. It was 
not until the next year that you pronounced the Whig 
party dissolved. We claim that we helped convert you. 
[Laughter and applause.] Please to put that down in 
the record of the history that you are making, because, 
while we cannot claim much in our little State, we are 
very jealous of what little we can claim. I say that 
here are the declarations carefully made at that Exeter 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 39 

meeting, when we published an address and resolutions, 
and we had no occasion, up to the time of the formation 
of the Republican party, and in all our labors in the 
Republican party, and in all our votes in Congress or 
out, to cross a t or dot an i of what we wrote in Feb- 
ruary, 1845. And there is the document! Your patent 
was not taken out until 1848. [Laughter and applause.] 

Now, let me give a little history of this document. It 
is the only one of the kind I could obtain, and let me tell 
you how I obtained it. So unpopular was our movement 
in 1844-'5, and so confident were the Democrats that the 
action of Mr. Hale and myself, and my friend Fogg, — 
long the editor of the " Independent Democrat " [ap- 
plause] , which was established in May, 1845, advocating 
Republican principles, — would be the end of us as men 
of any influence, that one Democrat in my town (Exeter) 
put away this call, and wrote upon the back of it (I will 
not detain you by reading it) enough to show that he 
kept it in memoriam, to condemn the men who signed 
this document, and who approved of the action that was 
taken by the convention. I appealed to his son (for the 
father has gone to his account) to allow me to see this. 
No, he could not let me see it. Well, I applied to him 
to purchase it, and I was obliged to pay a considerable 
sum of money before I could obtain it. [Laughter.] I 
value it very highly, and I shall take all the pains I can 
to see that it is preserved in perpetuam, in regard to the 
men of that time, and the events that then took place. 

Now, Mr. Downer and Mr. Adams, pardon me for 
detaining the audience so long, and receive with all the 
favor you can my humble remarks. [Hearty applause.] 

The President. Among the gentlemen early con- 
nected with the Free-Soil movement, there was one with 
whom I had relations at one time very close in political 
affairs, and for whom I learned to have the most pro- 



4:0 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

found regard. I allude to Stephen C. Phillips of 
Salem [loud applause], — a mau who, in his public 
services, did not put himself forth in any way as a 
person to make a spectacle, but who, in the transaction 
of the business of the country, as in the details of life, 
maintained from the beginning to the end the highest 
possible character, not only as a merchant, but as a 
patriot. I had occasion, from time to time, to enter 
into consultations with him as to the course it was 
proper for us, then a small band, to take, under responsi- 
bilities of a very heavy character ; and there never was a 
time in which his calm, moderate, but decided judgment 
did not have an influence, and an useful influence, upon 
our consultations. I believe we have here now present a 
son of Mr. Phillips, and I think, gentlemen, you will not 
find fault with me if I call upon him to say something in 
regard to the course that was taken, not only by his 
father, but followed up also by him in person. 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. WILLARD P. PHILLIPS. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen : — I know that I am 
called upon to-day to speak because I am the son of one 
who, in this movement, which was begun in '48, was pres- 
ent and active. I know that you call upon me to-day out 
of respect to him, and that the men who are here, who 
remember the campaign of '48, will never forget the ser- 
vices which he performed during that eventful period. 
[Applause.] It was my fortune, sir, in my younger 
days, before 1848, to be in my father's office, where one 
of my duties, apart from mercantile life, was to copy 
the various political correspondence, and to file the 
various political letters ; and, sir, I recollect very well 
the various transactions in regard to the " Boston Whig," 
to which you have referred. I recollect a little paper 
which was printed in '45, and circulated under the title 






Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 41 

of "The Free State Rally and Texas Chain Breaker." 
I recollect, sir, your active movements, and the active 
movements of Judge Allen and my father, in regard , 
to the annexation of Texas ; what was done at the meet- 
ing in Faneuil Hall, which, sir, led directly, with 
those gentlemen, to their action in the Whig party in 
'46 and '47, when they became known as Conscience 
Whigs. From that time, when in our various conven- 
tions we used to rally to the defence of the Wilmot 
proviso, and resolve, "that we will support no man for 
office who is not known by his acts or recorded opinions 
to be opposed to the further extension of slavery," — from 
that time until Judge Allen and Henry Wilson appeared 
in the convention in '48, and announced that Massachu- 
setts "spurned the bribe," and that the Whig party was 
dissolved, the action of those men who had acted with the 
Conscience Whigs was well known, and it was clearly 
understood, when the movement was made for the Buffalo 
Convention, that those gentlemen would be there. [Ap- 
plause.] The history of that convention you have related 
so fully, that no one need say another word about it. 
But let me say this in regard to my father. 

My friend here on my left (Mr. Tuck) has claimed 
early thunder. [Laughter.] Now, sir, you will recollect 
that in the campaign of '44, when New York voted on the 
Tuesday before Massachusetts, so that when we held the 
last rally previous to the election in Massachusetts, we 
were perfectly cognizant of what the result was, and that 
Henry Clay was defeated ; but notwithstanding that, the 
Whigs were called upon to go up and deposit their 
votes for Mr. Clay. The meeting in Salem was held on 
Saturday evening, the last meeting before the election ; 
and at the close of that meeting, at which my father pre- 
sided, he came out on the platform and requested the gen- 
tlemen then present to vote on Monday for Henry Clay, 
but he wished to say that for himself it would be his last 



42 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

vote for a slaveholder for President, or for any other 
responsible office. [Applause.] That was the ground 
that he took then, and when 1848 came, he lived up to 
this pledge, and did not go back upon his words. 

To a young man who is beginning, that campaign of 
'48 is a glorious reminder of what men of courage can 
do. It is a reminder of what they should do ; and for my 
part, sir, I have learned this one lesson, which I have 
endeavored to follow through life, in politics especially, 
that there is one duty of all the young men and of all the 
old men, and that is to oppose improper and unfit nomi- 
nations. [Applause.] On that lesson, sir, I have prac- 
ticed, and I trust that in our future political action in this 
State, we may have the courage of the men of '48, and 
oppose at all times the nomination and election of im- 
proper candidates. [Applause.] 

The President. We have here so many gentlemen on 
whom, perhaps, I have a right to call, that it is a little 
puzzling to determine whom to select first. But among 
the hard-working individuals who devoted themselves to 
the maintenance of the principles which they have carried 
into successful operation, I can specify one whose life, 
from his first coming into the service — and he was one 
of the earliest, I think, to abandon the Whig party — to 
the present, has been marked by steady and faithful devo- 
tion to the cause. I need only mention the name of Hon. 
Francis W. Bird. [Hearty and prolonged applause.] 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. FRANCIS W. BIRD. 
Mr. Chairman : — I have the right to claim the same 
exemption which the younger Mr. Hoar claimed, for, 
being very ill, I requested you not to call me out ; and I 
am quite sure, if you had submitted the question to 
the audience, you would not have got the same response 
for me that you got in regard to him. 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 43 



I am sorry I have not something better to say to-day. 
Indeed, I do not know that we are celebrating the Free- 
Soil organization of 1848. We are carried back two 
years before that. TTe are called upon to celebrate the 
organization of a party in Xew Hampshire two years 
previously. All I can say about that is, this is the first 
time I ever heard of it.* [Laughter.] I was at Buf- 
falo in 1848, and occupied a room with you, Mr. 
President, if you remember, the night before the con- 
vention. TTe were croAvded pretty close, and I was 
obliged to take a cot in your room. So enthusiastic 
was I then, that after I went home, I boasted that I 
had occupied a room with the next Vice-President of 
the United States. Unfortunately, it did not turn out 
so. I well remember the convention. I well remember 
the grand mass meeting over which you presided. I well 
remember that it happened, perhaps by the accident of 
my standing near you when you were called out to join 
the committee of conference, that you asked me to take 
your seat as presiding officer of that convention. I 
should probably have forgotten it but for this incident : 
As soon as I took your seat, those barn-burners flocked 
around me and said, "Don't let Fred. Douglass get the 
floor!" They didn't want a "nigger" to talk to them. 
[Laughter.] I told them we came there for free soil, 
free speech, and free men ; and I gave a hint to Mr. 
Douglass, that if he would claim the floor when the gen- 
tleman who was then speaking gave it up, he should 

* I did not mean that I was ignorant of, or had forgotten, the fact, that Mr. 
Hale was elected Senator, and Mr. Tuck, Representative, previous to 1848; but 
I did mean that I had never before heard it claimed that these sporadic occur- 
rences entitled them to claim priority in the organization of the Free-Soil party. 
There was never any Free-Soil party, organized as such, in New Hampshire. Of 
course, I did not mean to deny to our New Hampshire friends the credit of hav- 
ing elected anti-slavery men, as such, just as we in Massachusetts elected John 
Quincy Adams and Horace Mann as anti-slavery Whigs j but I did moan that 
we in Massachusetts organized the first distinctive, efficient, permanent Free-Soil 
party. That is all. It may not be much ; but that we did. f. w. b. 



44 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

certainly have it. [Great applause.] He had the good 
sense — which our colored brethren do not always have — 
to make a two minutes' speech, and sat down amid 
great applause. 

I find myself thinking a good deal, not only of what took 
place at Buffalo, but during the three subsequent years. 
You have spoken of the character of the convention at 
Buffalo, as composed of earnest, sincere, and self-forget- 
ting men. If there ever was such a convention held in 
this country, that was one. So, also, I want to say, that 
if there ever was a political organization in this country 
composed of earnest, sincere, unselfish, self-forgetting 
men, it was the Free-Soil organization of 1848, '49, '50, 
and '51. [Applause.] I have seen a good deal of polit- 
ical organizations and political operations and political 
manipulations from that day to this, but I never knew 
such a set of men, associated for political effort, as the 
men who were associated in those four campaigns. I 
feel myself always wanting to name them. Samuel Hoar, 
Eockwood Hoar, Charles Allen, Stephen C. Phillips, 
Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, John G. Palfrey, Edward 
L. Keyes, Erastus Hopkins, and a host of just such men, 
who entered into those campaigns with one single pur- 
pose, and that was, to carry out their convictions as to 
the policy of the country, without a thought of personal 
ambition, — I mean for those first four years, — without 
any aim, each for himself, inconsistent with the good 
of the cause. And that was the inspiration of that 
whole movement, up to the time of the election of 
Charles Sumner. TV r e went into that campaign in 1850, 
as declared in our Free-Soil campaign paper, — I see 
one of my associates in the editorship of that paper 
here by my side, and I hoped he would be called upon 
to speak before I was — my excellent old friend (and 
I hope I may still be allowed to call him my friend), 
Hon. John B. Alley; he and I and Horace E. Smith, 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848. 45 

then of Chelsea, and now, I believe, of Xew York, 
were the editors of "The Free-Soiler," the campaign 
paper of that year, — we went into that campaign with the 
declared purpose of rebuking the author of the 7th of 
March speech, of repudiating in the name of Massachu- 
setts the Fugitive Slave Law, and to elect a Free-Soil 
United States Senator. We declared that, so far as our 
alliance with the Democrats was concerned, we were ready 
to join with them in electing a Democratic State Govern- 
ment, just as our friend here said that they said in Xew 
Hampshire to the Whigs, "If you will give us John P. 
Hale for Senator, we will give you a Whig Governor " ; 
just as Messrs. Morse and Townsend, the Free-Soilers in 
the Ohio Legislature, said to the Whigs, "If you will 
help us elect Joshua E. Giddings, we will give you the 
State offices"; and to the Democrats they said, "If you 
will help us to elect Salmon P. Chase, we will give you 
the State offices." Precisely that we said to our Dem- 
ocratic allies in Massachusetts : " We are here in the Leg- 
islature for one single purpose, — the election of an Lmited 
States Senator. That Senator is to be Charles Sumner. 
Help us to elect him, and we will give you the State Gov- 
ernment, and you must carry it on. You must take the 
entire Government, — the Governor and the entire State 
ticket, — and carry it on yourselves, and be responsible 
for it, and after the election we shall be in statu quo ante 
belluru, and have the liberty to criticize }'our administra- 
tion just as freely as we did the Whig administration." 
That we laid down as our platform all through the cam- 
paign, and that we laid down as our claim after the 
Legislature met. Our Democratic friends declined to 
carry on the State Government without our aid, and in 
an evil hour we decided to take a part of the State 
offices, and having got a taste of blood, we never lost it. 
[Laughter.] It was that that degraded the coalition and 
debauched our Free-Soil party, and defeated us, as we 



46 Reunion of Free-8oilers of 1848. 

deserved to be defeated, through the aid of our friends, 
Mr. Adams and Dr. Palfrey ; and I have always been grate- 
ful to them for it, and have taken occasion frequently to 
acknowledge it. That coalition was perpetuated until 
we found ourselves in alliance with the Democratic 
party, after it had nominated Franklin Pierce for Pres- 
ident on a pro-slavery platform ; and then, when we 
attempted to keep up the relation as before, we were 
defeated, as we deserved to be. But never was there a 
party on the face of the earth, led, guided, controlled, and 
directed by braver and more self-sacrificing men, than the 
Free-Soilers from 1848 to 1851. [Loud applause.] 

I am glad to be here, Mr. President. I wish I were 
able to say something more interesting and more instruct- 
ive to this gathering. We shall never look upon each 
others' faces again. How many have gone in the past ! 
How many of the brave, true, faithful men with whom we 
were associated, have gone to their reward ! We are fol- 
lowing them, one after another, to whatever reward awaits 
us. We shall never look upon each others' faces again. 
Three or four years ago, I proposed this gathering to 
General Wilson. He fell in with it very cordially, and 
we frequently spoke of it up to the time of his death ; but 
it was never brought about until my friend, Mr. Downer, 
stopping me in his carriage one day on the street, 
proposed such a gathering here. It is good for us 
to be here. I wish we had two or three hours' more 
time to look into each others' faces, and to say a 
few more words of these pleasant reminiscences and 
of hope for the future. For one, my active days are 
over ; but I have an earnest, profound faith in the 
principles of our old organization, and of the Kepub- 
lican party in its best days, when we were all proud 
to count it as the successor of the old Free-Soil party of 
Massachusetts. Honest men in the long run act together 
upon all grave public questions. [Applause.] We differ 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 47 

somewhat, some of us, now ; but I have an abiding faith, 
Mr. President, that before I die, we, the old Free-Soilers 
of Massachusetts, are yet to stand together, shoulder to 
shoulder, in carrying out the principles of the Free-Soil 
organization of 1848, '49 and '50, at the bottom of which 
lay this great doctrine of the equal rights of all men before 
the law. That I hold to be true Democracy. [Applause.] 
To that Democracy I pledged myself in my youth ; to 
that, "as Whig, Free-Soiler, Republican, I gave the best 
service of the vigor of my life ; to that I will devote the 
feeble strength of my old age, and I pray God to hasten 
its triumph. [Great applause.] 

The Pkesidext. Hitherto we have had addresses 
from gentlemen who have discoursed to you in a grave 
manner, with weight and with effect. The time has now 
come when I think it my duty to diversify it with a little 
other matter. I believe Mr. Thomas Drew has a poem, 
which he will read to you. 



ADDRESS OF MR. THOMAS DREW. 

I will detain the audience, at this late hour, but a very 
few moments ; but as Mr. Downer alluded to the spirit of 
prophecy which was upon him in those early days, I 
wish to read to you a few lines which form the conclusion 
of a prophecy which I made in the " heart of the Com- 
monwealth," a few days after the convention adjourned, 
over which you had the honor to preside at Buffalo. It 
so happened to me, that I was then a young man editing 
a weekly newspaper at Worcester. Mr. Earle, the editor 
of the old " Worcester Spy," asked me to take charge of 
his paper during his absence at the convention, and I 
reluctantly consented to do so. The first editorial writ- 
ten in Massachusetts, placing at the mast-head the names 
of Van Buren and Adams, committing that paper 



48 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

unreservedly and unequivocally to the support of those 
nominations, and renouncing all allegiance to the Whig 
party, was written by myself. It was very short, and 
may not be uninteresting on such an occasion as this. 

" We place at the head of our columns to-day the nominations of 
the Buffalo Free-Soil Convention. 

" They have been fairly made by the unanimous votes of the rep- 
resentatives of the advocates of Free-Soil, assembled from all the 
Free States, and, we doubt not, are the best that could have been 
made to secure the triumph of the principle of no extension of slavery. 

" The letter of Mr. Van Buren will commend itself to all who may 
have had any doubt remaining as to his opinions upon this important 
subject. He has stated his views in a clear and candid manner, and 
they are such as will be responded to by every friend of freedom 
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 

" The only issue now before the country, is Freedom or Slavery. 
The only parties are composed of the friends of slavery extension on 
the one hand, and the friends of freedom on the other. With the 
former we have always been at issue ; towards the latter our sym- 
pathies have always tended, and in this important crisis in our history 
we feel a stronger disposition than ever to labor in the good cause. 
The nominations of the Buffalo Convention will receive our hearty 
support." 

I wish also to read the concluding sentence of an edito- 
rial which I wrote for the " Christian Citizen," the weekly 
paper to which I referred, edited by "the learned black- 
smith," who was at that time absent in Europe, which 
contains the prophecy to which I have alluded, and shows 
the inspiration under which the young men of Massachu- 
setts worked at that time. They believed that the cause 
was of God, that it was to be triumphant, and that there 
was no sort of doubt in regard to its speedy success. 

" The day of the bondman's redemption draws nigh. Through all 
the length and breadth of the land, the jubilant murmur is breaking, 
and ere another generation shall have passed away, the full glad 
chorus will arise that shall thrill the universe with joy, that the Amer- 
ican people have decreed the freedom of the slave, and established 
the freedom of the soil." 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 49 

Mr. President, the poern I am about to read is very 
short. I supposed that this would be an occasion when 
you would desire to indulge in some reminiscences of the 
past, and you must excuse whatever faults you may find 
in it, because it was written with the especial purpose of 
enlivening the seriousness to which you have referred as 
characterizing occasions like this. 

Now here at last, with hearts elate, 

The Free-Soil veterans throng, 
Who led the light in forty-eight 

'Gainst tyranny and wrong. 

The curtain of the vanished Past, 

To-day we draw aside ; 
Our bread, once on the waters cast, 

Returns with every tide. 

The memories of thirty years 

Throng round this board to-day, 
With all the hopes, resolves, and fears 

That marked the devious way 

By which God's Providence has wrought, 

Through patriot blood and toil, 
The triumphs of the ends we sought, 

In " Freedom and Free-Soil." 

In retrospect, we see the times 

When ranks were thin and weak, 
And — closely drawn the party lines — 

'T was heresy to speak. 

We hear the clarion tones once more 

Of Sumner and of Mann, 
Of Allen, Webb, and Samuel Hoar, 

Who led in Freedom's van. 

The stalwart form of Phillips, now, 

From Salem town seems here, 
And Burlingame of dauntless brow, 

With words of lofty cheer. 

7 



50 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

The earnest words that Wilson spoke, 

Our memories here recall ; — 
Sturdy and tough as mountain oak, 

Scorning all party thrall. 

John Andrew's earnest, honest brow 

Gleams through the shadows dim, 
And the careworn, thoughtful face of Howe, 

Ranges in line with him. 

One other name I here recall, 

And then my task is done ; 
The journalist, who toiled for all, — 

We called him " Warrington." 

Of men less marked who fought the fight, — 

How vain to speak their praise 
In the bright radiance of the light 

Of these more hopeful days ! 

[Loud applause.] 

Mr. Downer. Fellow Free-Soilers, the time has 
about arrived (hastened by the shower) to close this 
meeting. Before we separate, I wish to express the 
obligation I feel under to every one of you for this 
delightful revival of the memories of '48, and should our 
country hereafter be in deadly peril, may the crop of good 
seed then sown produce fruits for its salvation ! 

The President. I propose the health and long life of 
our generous host, Mr. Downer. 

The company rose and responded to this sentiment 
with three hearty cheers, after which they repaired to the 
wharf and took the boat for the city, rejoicing in a day 
well and happily spent, and with a store of pleasant 
memories for future years. 






Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S4S. 51 



SUPPLEMENTAL SPEECHES AND LETTERS. 



The preceding pages contain a record of all that was said at 
the table. But there were very many present to whose voices 
the coinpairy would gladly have listened had there been time. 
Understanding that several gentlemen were prepared to speak, 
if called upon, Mr. Downer caused a circular to be sent to them, 
requesting them to write out their remarks for publication in the 
proposed report of the proceedings. In response to this invita- 
tion, the following addresses and letters have been kindly fur- 
nished : — 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. JOHN B. ALLEY. 

Twenty-nine years ago to-day, I had the high privilege of taking a 
seat in that famous Buffalo Convention, which ushered into being the 
renowned Free-Soil party. That conference convention, as it was 
called, in contradistinction to the mass convention, which assembled 
at the same time, sat with closed doors. It has been my fortune to 
sit in many conventions and deliberative assemblies, but never before 
or since in so interesting a body. It was composed mostly of repre- 
sentative men of three distinct political organizations, most of them 
able and distinguished, some of them illustrious, and' all of them 
intensely earnest. The Democrats had met in national convention at 
Baltimore, and virtually repudiated the " Wilmot Proviso," and by its 
nominations, its action, its votes, and its platform, allied itself more 
thoroughly than ever to the slave power. The following month, the 
Whig party met in national convention at Philadelphia, and made, if 
possible, a still higher bid for slaveholding support, by refusing to 
put forth any platform, and nominating a Louisiana slaveholder, who 
had no political record whatever, — General Zachary Taylor, nom- 
inated solely for his military record and supposed devotion to the 
slave power. The dissenting Democrats, called " Barn Burners " in 
New York, entered their protest, and called a convention at Utica, 
and nominated Martin Van Buren for President. The anti-slavery 
Whigs, equally disgusted, were panting for an opportunity to record 
their emphatic protest, by uniting with all the other political organiza- 



52 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

tions, and entering the contest with the battle-cry of freedom, and 
these memorable words, "Free Soil, Free Speech, and Free Men," 
inscribed upon their banner. These anti-slavery Democrats, anti- 
slavery Whigs, in combination with representative men of the old 
Liberty party, met together in that convention, determined to sink 
all minor differences to secure the one great object of a united 
opposition to the further increase of the slave power. It was difficult 
to agree upon a platform, with such discordant views upon political 
questions as characterized the antecedents of most of those in that 
convention. But they were wise, earnest, patriotic men, determined 
to agree. The platform was the work of Salmon P. Chase, who was 
the president of the convention. The resolutions, although written 
by Mr. Chase, were brought forward and presented by Benjamin F. 
Butler of New York, a distinguished lawyer, who had previously 
been in Mr. Van Buren's cabinet. He advocated them in a very able 
and eloquent speech, and after an exhaustive discussion, the most 
interesting it was ever my privilege to listen to, they were adopted. 
After their adoption came the tug of war, in the struggle for the nom- 
ination. All the " Barn-Burners " were for Mr. Van Buren, and to ask 
the Liberty party and " Conscience Whigs," as they were called, to 
vote for Martin Van Buren to promote anti-slavery principles, was 
requiring them to swallow a bitter pill. He, of all the statesmen of the 
country, was the most obnoxious to the anti-slavery sentiment. He 
alone, among the Presidents or candidates for the presidency, had 
dared to pledge beforehand his unalterable determination to resist, by 
every means in his power, every attempt to abolish slavery in the 
District of Columbia, and to interpose, if necessary, should Congress 
pass a law abolishing it, his executive veto. He also had given his 
casting vote in the Senate, authorizing breaking open the mails to 
purge them of anti-slavery publications. Added to all this, no one 
among the Democrats had been so obnoxious, politically, to the Whig 
portion of the convention, as Mr. Van Buren. The discussion upon 
the nominations was earnest, able, and at times very exciting. The 
friends of Mr. Van Buren claimed that he was all right then, 
whatever he had been before, and they plead most earnestly for his 
nomination, upon the ground that, with him as the nominee, we could 
control the electoral vote of New York, and that it would open the 
doors of all conventions and assemblages of " Barn Burners " to 
Free-Soil speakers, and nothing would indoctrinate the Democratic 
party with anti-slavery truth so much as the seizure of such an 
opportunity. With the determination of all to conquer their preju- 
dices for the good of the cause, their reasoning prevailed, and Mr. 
Van Buren was nominated. Too much praise cannot be given to the 
Whig members of that convention, who so readily sacrificed their 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S4S. 53 

life-long prejudices in devotion to principle and patriotism. There 
was one man in that convention whom I especially desire to mention, — 
the Hon. Stephen C. Phillips. He, to my youthful mind, for I was a 
young man then, was the moral hero of that convention. A prom- 
inent, devoted, and popular Whig, with the certain prospect, as his 
friends all believed, of being the next Governor of Massachusetts, if 
he remained in the Whig party, he had been especially prominent 
in his denunciation of Mr, Van Buren as pre-eminently " the Northern 
man with Southern principles; 11 but when convinced of his duty, he 
hesitated not a moment, and I see him now, in my mind's eye, sitting 
by the side of Mr. Chase, as the vice-president of his State in the 
convention, watched by all at that anxious moment to learn how he 
would vote. When his name was called, I remember well his prompt 
response, in that loud, ringing voice of his, " Martin Van Buren. 1 ' His 
response was a relief to the whole convention, and all felt that he, at 
least, was a patriot and statesman who knew his duty, and dared to 
do it. In that convention of personal sacrifice of feelings, prejudices, 
and prospects, no one surrendered more than Stephen C. Phillips. 

In point of numbers, weight of character, and earnest purpose, no 
convocation of the people in this country, at that time, had ever been 
comparable to that assemblage at Buffalo. The record and results of 
that convention will live fresh in American history as long as the 
nation lasts. 



LETTER FROM THOS. WEXTWORTH HIGGIXSON. 

Newport, R. I., August 23, 1877. 
Samuel Dowxer, Esq. 

Dear Sib : — I was very much disappointed at being unable to 
attend your gathering of Free-Soilers, and thank you for asking me 
to write out the remark- I should have made. That is, unfortunately, 
a thing I never succeed in doing. It avouUI be as easy for me to 
write out the remarks I should have made in Congress, had the Free- 
Soilers succeeded in electing me, in 1848, to represent the Essex Dis- 
trict. I was then only a defeated candidate, and I was on this later 
occasion a reluctant absentee, — thus making no speech in either case. 
Had any been made, it would, doubtless, have included the assertion, 
that I was proud, in 1848, of being a Free-Soiler, and, in 1877, of 
having been one. 

Very truly yours, 

Thos. Wextworth Higginson. 



54 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

LETTER FROM EDWARD L. PIERCE, Esq. 

Milton, August 14, 1877. 

Dear Mr. Downer : — You request me to put on paper the remarks 
which I should have made if there had been time to call me up at the 
" Reunion of the Free-Soilers of 1848," on the 9th instant. I cannot 
give them, for I had none prepared. Professional toils, which 
happened to press to the last moment, allowed me no opportunity to 
arrange in my mind the memories of that historic period ; and I 
esteemed myself fortunate in remaining a listener during the interest- 
ing festival which we owe to your hospitality. 

My own connection with the events you commemorated was but 
meagre. In 1848, 1 was a college youth, still in my teens. My first 
remarks in a political meeting were made that summer in a school- 
house at Easton, the scene of early academic studies, where I was 
called up by Dr. Caleb Swan, at the close of his report as a dele- 
gate to the Buffalo Convention. That autumn I contributed several 
articles in favor of the new movement to the " Norfolk County 
Democrat," then conducted by Elbridge G. Robinson (an elder brother 
of William S.), and, returning to Brown University to begin my junior 
year, did what I could in our debating society, and in personal inter- 
course, to bring-fellow-students to our side. My father, Colonel Jesse 
Pierce of Stoughton, who had been an anti-slavery Democrat, was, 
that year, a Free-Soil candidate for the Senate, associated on the ticket 
with Milton M. Fisher of Medway and Edward L. Keyes of Dedham. 
My elder brother, then twenty-three years old, since mayor of Boston 
and member of Congress, was very active in canvassing for the new 
party ; and it was largely due to his efforts that the Free-Soilers car- 
ried, that year, the town of Stoughton, electing their representative. 

On the evening of August 22, I attended, at Faneuil Hall, the 
ratification meeting, where Sumner presided, John A. Andrew read 
resolutions, and Richard H. Dana, Jr., David Dudley Field and Joshua 
Leavitt spoke. Sumner, whom I did not then personally know, was 
in the prime of manly beauty and power; and I well recall him, 
wearing his blue coat and gilt buttons (a favorite dress of that period), 
and waving his cane as he cheered, and turning now and then his eye 
to an enthusiastic citizen in the left gallery, who was clapping his 
hands with great energy. My brother and myself attended, as volun- 
teers, the first Free-Soil county convention at Dedham, called to elect 
delegates to the Buffalo Convention, and were admitted as delegates, 
in the absence of any regular representative from our town. The 
occasion is now somewhat indistinct in memory, but I remember the 
trenchant speech of Keyes, and the attractive presence of William 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 55 

Richardson of Dorchester, as he moved up and down the aisles. Such 
is the brief record of what a Free-Soil minor saw in 1848. Two years 
later, in 1850, the first year of my majority, in company with a fellow- 
student of the Harvard Law School, my much-valued friend, John 
Winslow, now a distinguished lawyer of New York, I addressed 
several Free-Soil meetings, the first being at Newton Upper Falls, 
and from that time continued to do what I could for the cause, through 
newspaper articles and campaign addresses. 

At the " Reunion, 1 ' held under your auspices, the chiefs who led in 
the great movement were duly commemorated, — Palfrey, S. C. 
Phillips, Adams, Sumner, Wilson, Mann, E. Rockwood Hoar, Gid- 
dings, and Chase. Mr. Wilson, in his history, has given these an 
enduring fame. But behind these ever-honored names were a great 
number of true men, without whose devotion, capacity for organiza- 
tion, determined purpose and inspiring speech, these leaders would 
have failed. I delight to recall some of this class, who lived in the 
southern part of the Commonwealth, with which I am most familiar. 
Among them were F. W. Bird of Walpole, who, in the Legislature, at 
that early period, was a fearless "Conscience Whig 1 ' ; Edward L. Keyes 
and John Shorey of Dedham, Milton M. Fisher of Medway, Otis 
Cary of Foxborough, Dr. Appleton Howe of Weymouth, Cornelius 
Cowing of West Roxbury ; and in Dorchester, William Richardson 
(an able lawyer, with remarkable gifts in conversation), Asaph 
Churchill, Samuel Downer, Jr., Ebenezer Clapp, Henry O. Hildreth, 
and Rev. Nathaniel Hall, a clergyman who never counted the cost 
when a moral question was at stake. In Plymouth County were 
John A. Andrew of Hingham, Seth Webb, Jr., of Scituate, Jesse 
Perkins of North Bridgewater, and Morton Eddy of Bridgewater, the 
last being one of the first two in his town who voted for freedom in 
1840, and one of eleven in 1843. In Bristol County were ex-Governor 
Marcus Morton, his son Nathaniel, who had a genius for the law such 
as few lawyers have, and who was also a very effective political 
speaker (two other sons of the ex-Governor were distinguished by 
like zeal in the cause, — Marcus, Jr., in Boston, and James H. in 
Springfield) ; also Edmund Anthony and S. O. Dunbar of Taunton — 
the last still living ; Laban M. Wheaton of Norton ; and John A. 
Kasson, then a young lawyer of New Bedford, who has since won a 
national reputation. But there is one whom I cannot dismiss with the 
bare mention of his name, — Dr. Caleb Swan of Easton, to whose 
inspiration I owe much for my early interest in the good cause. He 
died in 1870, at the age of seventy-six, after fifty-four years of exacting 
professional toils, continued to the end. He swept, in his practice, a 
territory of remarkable extent, comprising his own town, the four 
Bridgewaters, Raynham, Taunton, Norton, Stoughton, and Sharon. 



56 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

He began his anti-slavery work in 1841, in association with his 
relative, George W. Johnson, once a Liberty-party candidate for 
Governor of this State, and now a resident of Buffalo. In his pro- 
fessional rides, in dwellings, on highways, in halls, school-houses, and 
church vestries, Dr. Swan made converts to the faith. His voice was 
earnest and deep-toned, and he had magnetic power on the platform 
and in conversation. He had skill in organization, securing the 
election of a Liberty-party representative in 1842 (who came near 
being speaker) and a Free-Soil representative in 1850. He often led 
a forlorn hope as a candidate, but refused nominations likely to be 
followed by an election, except in a single instance, near the close of 
his life. I remember that several times Mr. Sumner spoke with 
enthusiasm of his zeal and good sense and hearty ways. 

Other parts of the Commonwealth were not less fertile in true men 
than the southern. There was John M. Earle in Worcester ; William 
S. Robinson in Lowell ; William Claflin in Hopkinton ; John B. Alley 
in Lynn ; Daniel W. Gooch in Melrose ; James M. Stone in Charles- 
town ; Thomas Russell, then a student, in Plymouth ; Gershom B. 
Weston in Duxbury; James T. Robinson in Adams; Daniel W. 
Alvord in Greenfield ; Erastus Hopkins, Oliver Warner, and Abijah 
W. Thayer in Northampton ; Estes Howe in Cambridge ; the Bow- 
ditches, Samuel E. Sewall, William B. Spooner, Samuel G. Howe, 
Elizur Wright, Dr. James W. Stone, Anson Burlingame, Theodore 
Parker, and many more of their type, in Boston and its neighbor- 
hood. Nor can we forget the poets, whose harps were ever 
responsive to our cause, — Whittier, Longfellow, and Lowell ; or the 
noble women, like Mrs. Child and Mrs. Stowe, who, in tale, or verse, 
or earnest appeal, inspired their generation. But I must not prolong 
the enumeration. Time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, 
and of Sampson, and of Jephthah, who, through faith, stood firm for 
the freedom of a race ; out of weakness were made strong ; waxed 
valiant in fight ; breasted social and political proscription ; served 
faithfully to the end a cause as grand as any for which martyrs ever 
died. But all such, whether commemorated or not, whether permitted 
with mortal eyes to witness the grand consummation of all their toils 
and self-sacrifice, or dying without a glimpse of the promised land, 
deserve, and will receive, the gratitude of mankind. 

Yours truly, 

Edward L. Pierce. 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848. 51 



ADDRESS OF THE HON. MILTON M. FISHER OF MEDWAY. 

Mr. President: — Oar minds, on this occasion, instinctively revert 
to the political scenes and events of 1848, and especially to the 
Buffalo Convention, and matters incident thereto. 

It will be recollected that, previous and up to 1848, there had been an 
earnest and vigorous discussion, in Congress and out, upon what was 
called the " Wilmot Proviso," which was simply a resolution offered 
in the House of Representatives by Mr. Wilmot, a Democrat from 
Pennsylvania, to prohibit the further introduction of slavery into new 
territory. 

It was foreseen that this question would enter very largely into the 
canvass for President in that year. Both Democrats and Whigs had 
held their national conventions, and nominated, the former, General 
Cass, and the latter, General Taylor. The former was a Northern 
" doughface," or trimmer, and the latter a Southern slaveholder, and 
the hero of the Mexican war, which had been waged to add new 
territory to be carved into new slave states. Both Cass and Taylor 
were committed against this proviso of freedom. 

But, in both the Whig and the Democratic parties, there were many 
in the Free States who had the courage to say to the slave power, 
;1 Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud 
waves be stayed." Several delegates in these conventions had bolted 
the nominations, and conspicuously, in this State, Charles Allen and 
Henry Wilson. After conference with each other, the "friends of 
Free Soil for Free Men " called a convention, to be held at Buffalo 
on the 9th of August, 1848, to adopt the platform of a new party, 
and to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President. It 
was my good fortune, Mr. President, to be associated with yourself 
and Mr. Wm. J. Reynolds, now deceased, as the three delegates from 
Norfolk County (as it was), representing, as we did, the three con- 
stituent elements that were to be fused into the new party ; to wit, 
the u Conscience Whigs," the " Barn Burners," and the " Liberty 
Party." 1 This old Liberty party, — formed in 1840, composed of men 
of the most uncompromising character, who had been hammered 
and welded together by the bitterest opposition to the anti-slavery 
cause, — often deceived by the anti-slavery professions of mere politi- 
cians, at first distrusted the sincerity of men, who, with new-born 
zeal, began to shout " Free Soil," and doubted whether the Buffalo 
Convention would be any better than a " big fizzle," as its enemies 
predicted. 

But the eventful day came, and the "men of faith' 1 were there; 
among them Chase and Giddings of Ohio, Wm. Jackson and Leavitt 
8 



58 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

of Massachusetts, Fessenden and Appleton of Maine, Stewart and 
Green of New York, and many others. The new enthusiasm of 
bolting anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats soon fused with the old 
fire of " Liberty men," and the union of sentiment and purpose was 
complete, and found fit expression in a common platform of prin- 
ciples and measures, unanimously adopted, and applauded to the 
echo by thousands of sturdy yeomen from all the Free States. 

But in the matter of candidates, a division was early foreseen. 
John P. Hale, who had already done valiant service in Congress, was 
the favorite of the Liberty men, Judge McLean of the Whigs, and 
Van Buren of the Democrats. It was soon learned, through Mr. 
Chase, that Judge McLean would not accept the nomination, and this 
narrowed the contest to the other two, and when the vote was 
declared, Van Buren had a majority of twenty-two votes. The 
excitement was intense. The "Barn Burners," who saw in it the 
death of Cass, were jubilant. The " Conscience Whigs," disappointed 
at the withdrawal of Judge McLean, now reluctantly accepted the 
situation, while the "Liberty men" were stunned with grief and 
momentary confusion. No public man had been more obnoxious to 
the Whigs or the Abolitionists than Van Buren. It was hard to believe 
he had made much progress in his views or position upon public 
affairs, since he said, in advance of his election to the Presidency, he 
would veto any bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia. But Mr. Van Buren had written confidential letters, and 
David Dudley Field, B. F. Butler of New York, and John Van 
Buren pledged him to accept the nomination squarely upon the plat- 
form, and that was urged as all that could be asked. 

Among the " Liberty men," who had often been betrayed, as they 
thought, by public men, there was anxiety and distrust. Their con- 
fidence was not easily won. The question went round in the conven- 
tion of delegates, " Must we give up our party name and organization, 
and, more than all, support the 'Little Magician'?" 

And now, Mr. President, an incident occurred which no Liberty- 
party delegate in that convention can ever forget. In this dilemma, 
the stalwart form of Joshua Leavitt, the editor of the " Emancipator," 
a leader of the advanced minds in the cause of freedom, rose up, and 
Mr. Chase, who presided in this convention, announced that Mr. 
Leavitt had the floor. 

All eyes were turned to him as the great expounder of the Liberty- 
party policy. He began his speech perfectly calm and self-possessed. 
He referred to the struggles and sacrifices of those whom he represent- 
ed, the tenacity with which they held their principles, and their devotion 
to the cause of human freedom, and their almost idolatrous attachment 
to John P. Hale, who had already been nominated by them for the 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 184S. 59 

Presidency. He referred to their deep regret and disappointment at 
the result of the ballot just declared, but suddenly he exclaimed in a 
voice of thunder and lofty exultation, " The Liberty party is not dead, 
but Translated."* 

Such shouts and cheer? as came from all parts and parties in the 
house, when the old Liberty Guard magnanimously gave up their 
name, their party, and their candidate for the cause, were not sur- 
passed by any of the many eventful and thrilling incidents at this 
great gathering. While your own honored name, Mr. Chairman, as 
candidate for Vice-President, did much to harmonize the various 
elements in the convention and among the people, that of Van Buren, 
it must be confessed, was a wet blanket to the ardor and zeal of many 
of the "Whigs who started well in the Free-Soil movement. With 
Judge McLean as a candidate, Stephen C. Phillips had certainly 
been chosen the next Governor of Massachusetts. 

I must beg your indulgence, Mr. President, as I relate one other 
incident, of which I was an eye-witness. On the morning of the con- 
vention, as I entered from a side street one of the principal avenues 
of the city, leading up from the Western steamboat landing, I saw a 
great crowd of stalwart men, brown with toil, and apparently belong- 
ing to the most intelligent class of farmers, r who had just landed from 
one of the steamers from Cleveland, Ohio. At the same time, coming 
in an opposite direction, from the railroad station, I observed a tall, 
broad-shouldered man, with a brown duster and carpet-bag, walking 
in the middle of the street, whom I at once recognized as the indomita- 
ble Joshua R. Giddings, who had just arrived from Washington to 
attend the great meeting. At the same time, he was seen by this crowd 
of Buckeyes, most of whom were his constituents in old Ashtabula 
County and the Western Reserve. They rushed upon him almost 
en masse, without ceremony or introduction, shaking him by the hand, 
or getting hold of him as best they could, until the street was so 
blocked up that Mr. Giddings motioned to them to pass into a side 
court. Here he gave these sturdy pioneers of freedom a full oppor- 
tunity to exchange salutations and congratulations with him upon the 
au-picious events now transpiring. As Mr. Giddings inquired after 
friends and families in Ohio, and as to the progress of the good cause 
at home, I was transfixed with amazement, and delighted as well, to 
see such an enthusiastic greeting with such a multitude of people, 
who, in their intense familiarity, seemed to belong to one great 
family, of which Mr. Giddings was the beloved patriarch. 

* This sublime and felicitous declaration of Rev. Dr. Leavitt at Buffalo was sub- 
sequently quoted by Charles Allen, at the State Free-Soil Convention at Bo-ton, and was 
most enthusiastically applauded. Henry Wilson in his "Rise and Fall of the Slave 
Power," Vol. II., page 159, appears to attribute this sentiment as original with Judge 
Allen, but this is a mistake. 



60 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

After the nominations had been made, our " Barn-Burner " friends, 
who addressed the mass convention, were particularly happy. David 
Dudley Field, then a young lawyer in New York, of great promise, 
made at the mass convention a noble speech for the cause and for 
Mr. Van Buren. He began with the quotation from Shakespeare in 
" Richard the Third," and applied it with great pertinence and force 
to the successful nomination of the favorite candidate of the " Barn 
Burners," — 

" Now is the winter of our discontent 
Made glorious summer by this son of York, 
And all the clouds that lower'd upon our house 
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried ! " 

Other incidents of this eventful occasion might be mentioned, but 
I forbear. The history of the party then formed is but partly writ- 
ten as yet. The great measure adopted was to restrict slavery to its 
existing limits, and this has not only been accomplished, but every 
inch of national soil is free soil, and trodden only by free men. 



ADDRESS OF JOHN N. BARBOUR OF CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 

Mr. Downer: — When I received your kind invitation to attend 
this gathering of veterans at your beautiful garden, I was told the 
object was to relate some reminiscences of the past, connected with 
the emancipation of our slaves, — one of the most glorious events of 
history. I turned over some of the leaves of memory, and found 
myself in my counting-room in Boston, forty-eight years ago, con- 
versing with a young stranger, who was seeking a place in which to 
deliver an address on the subject of slavery. The earnestness of his 
manner, and the striking beauty of his countenance, interested me. 
I inquired his name. He told me it was Garrison. I asked him if 
he had been imprisoned in Baltimore for attacking that institution. 
He said he was the man. Being myself a young man of generous 
impulses, as I believed, I grasped his hand with warm sympathy, 
gave him a hearty welcome, and promised to aid him in his work of 
philanthropy. I applied to a deacon of a Baptist church, of benev- 
olent tendencies, who assured me there would be no difficulty in 
procuring the house for that cherished purpose. A short time 
elapsed, when I inquired of him at what time the lecture was to be 
delivered ; he told me the house could not be had, because the young 
man was crazy! Supposing that persecution and imprisonment 
might have had so sad an effect upon an ardent mind, I rested there. 
After every meeting-house had been refused, I learned that an 
address on that subject was to be made in the building at the corner 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 61 

of Congress and Milk streets, popularly styled "Infidel Hall," where 
the celebrated Aimer Kneeland then proclaimed his peculiar views. 

Being desirous of hearing what that " crazy man " had to say, I 
attended the meeting. I listened to the impassioned eloquence of 
the youthful orator, as he portrayed the wrongs and sufferings of the 
slave. Bound by no party affiliations, acknowledging no master but 
my Creator, I then and there decided that no act or word of mine 
should ever sanction or sustain such an atrocious system, — that eter- 
nal hostility should mark my course towards the disreputable insti- 
tution of human bondage. 

What could be done ? I found the avenues to social, moral, pecu- 
niary, political, religious influence were all permeated by its wonderful 
power, and woe to the young man who would try to stem the torrent ! 
Some of us concluded to accept the situation, and sow the seed for a 
future crop. We found great need of a class of workers in humble 
and unpleasing positions. We established meetings for discussion 
in our various localities, hired halls, and printed notices, and having 
provoked the community with our unpopular principles, put our 
hands in our pockets and paid the deficiencies. We established 
newspapers which we well knew' would not pay, published them till 
our funds were exhausted, and let them die only to renew the conflict 
and the expenditure year after year. 

The noble James G. Birney of Kentucky was nominated for the 
Presidency by the Liberty party, after years of fearful struggle, and 
we saw in the dim distance the break of day. The Free-Soil move- 
ment, with its dubious elements of compromise for the overthrow of 
the " giant crime,"' under the lead of one in whom we had but little 
confidence, was presented by our leaders. Could we sanction it for 
its expected results ? We supported it with misgiving, and in its 
action we found a pow r er that might be utilized. " The nature of 
things" inaugurated the Republican party, which we accepted under 
protest, with the certainty that restriction of slavery ensured its death. 
Were we mistaken ? In one respect we were. Some of the leaders of 
that party repudiated the idea that the inexorable logic of events made 
so plain to the slave owner, and even proposed to perpetuate slavery 
by ingrafting it into the Constitution, rather than have trouble about it. 

The " God of Providence, 11 who writes history even now, determined 
differently. The slave power in its madness struck the blow, and 
became a suicide. The cherished idol of the South was plucked 
from the vitals of the nation, and left its bleeding heart exposed to a 
wondering world. The institutions of two hundred years were 
changed by a proclamation ! Our wounds are not yet healed ; we will 
do all that is consistent with the great underlying principles of human 
freedom to heal them ; but these principles must be sustained, if we 
will fulfil the mission that the Great Disposer has appointed for us. 



62 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 



ADDRESS OF JOHN WINSLOW, Esq., OF BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen Free-Soilers of 1848 : — This is 
naturally an occasion of exultation and reminiscence. What the 
Free-Soilers of 1818 contended for has been accomplished, and more. 
In the dark days, when the slave power overshadowed the land, and 
was felt as a political force in all departments of the Government, he 
who became a Free-Soiler was sure to take his place and lot with 
the minority. 

That minority was not inspired by any prospect of early success. 
Its inspiration was its principles. It was earnestly believed by the 
men of '48, whose deeds we commemorate, that the life-saving prin- 
ciples of the Republic, as laid down in the Constitution and in the 
Declaration of Independence, were sacrificed to the demands of 
slavery. The slave power was reaching out in all directions, through 
commercial channels and by political and social agencies, to assert 
its supremacy as a dominant element in the country. It was not con- 
tent to insist upon its status in the several States, but was looking 
over into the Territories, whose regions have since become States, 
with covetous eyes. 

It took the ground, with Calhoun as a leader, that the Constitution 
protected slavery and the right to establish it in the Territories as 
well as in the States of the Union. 

All the powers of the Federal Government were invoked to main- 
tain this position. 

In pursuance of this aggressive policy, we saw such enactments as 
the Fugitive Slave Law, the decision of the Supreme Court in the 
Dred Scott case, when Chief Justice Taney, in an obiter dictum, 
declared that the slave and colored man had no rights which the 
whites were bound to respect. We saw, alas ! Daniel Webster, on 
the 7th of March, 1850, in his place in the Senate, bending to the pro- 
slavery storm, and making concessions which humiliated him and 
the country. That 7th of March speech makes us wish the great 
man had completed his political record before the weakness of that 
day. 

The Free-Soilers of 1848 took extremely conservative ground. 
Their movement was not against slavery as it was in the States, but, 
in the main, against its aggressive policy for its expansion in the 
Territories. The " Wilmot Proviso," and all similar propositions, 
sought chiefly to save the West and the Northwest, not then formed 
into States. 

I have* said this is naturally an occasion for exultation. It is so 
because we have seen the principles of 1848 triumph, not only in the 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848. 63 

Territories, but, by the exercise of the war power, in all the States of 
the Union. What the war power did has been ratified by amend- 
ments of the Federal Constitution, and of the Constitutions of the old 
Slave States. As a result, we have the spectacle of a great nation, 
with a population of more than 44,000,000 of people, all free, in place 
of a nation which, in 1848, had within its limits 4,000,000 of slaves 
The aggressive, dominant slave power has disappeared as a force 
in our politics. 

With these results assured, it does not require the prophetic voice 
to trace in the bright outlines of the future a new and grander career, 
in the pursuits of industry and peace, for our common country. 

This is also a day of most interesting reminiscence. It is fitting 
that here and now we remember the heroic men of 1848. Some of 
these now among the dead have already been mentioned. As a 
townsman and neighbor, I well remember Horace Mann and William 
Jackson, both then of Xewton. Before the agitation of 1848, Horace 
Mann had profoundly impressed the public mind as an educator and 
director in educational affairs in Massachusetts. 

On his return from Europe, he wrote the memorable Seventh Annual 
Report as Secretary of the State Board of Education, giving his views 
of some of the superior methods of education as he had observed them 
in Prussia. In that report, he compared the Prussian system with that 
in Boston, which drew out the reply of the thirty-one schoolmasters of 
Boston, who seemed to think their vindication in order, Mr. Mann's 
famous answer, and the controversy that followed, disclosed to the 
country that in him we had a controversialist of unsurpassed ability. 
When Mr. Mann joined the movement of 1848, he did so with all his 
might. I have never known a more effective or clearer-sighted moral 
force in our politics than Horace Mann. 

William Jackson of Newton was early in the field as an anti- 
slavery man. In the days of the Liberty party, which supported 
James G. Birney for President in 1844, William Jackson was active 
and prominent as a leader in that organization. He was an able 
merchant, and ever ready to give his means to the cause he loved. 
When the Free-Soil movement was organized, Mr. Jackson naturally 
took his place in it as a worker and leader. He regarded it as an 
outgrowth of the Liberty party, whose principles he loved so well. 
He hailed with delight the new and able accessions to the anti- 
slavery ranks which the Free-Soilers brought into the field. There 
was no man in the days of '48 whose judgment was more respected 
or whose advice was more sought for than William Jackson's. I 
may be permitted to refer to my own father, now deceased, as a 
town-man, friend, and co-worker with Mr. Jackson. 

I leave for others the mention of such men and leaders as Sumner, 



64 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

Wilson, Allen, Leavitt, Hopkins, and many others now gathered to 
the fathers. These, and such as these, are among our honored dead. 

While, in a technical sense, the name of John Quincy Adams, who 
died in February, 1848, does not find a place in the list of Free- 
Soilers, yet it is true that his counsels and teachings, through a long 
and eventful political life, were inspiring sources of the Free-Soil 
doctrine. 

While we thus reverently name the dead, it is right to refer to the 
living who were active and influential among the men of '48. 

We are reminded by their presence here of the distinguished ser- 
vices of Judge Hoar ; of his brother, your Senator ; of Mr. Downer, our 
generous host; of the veteran Bird, who has fought a good fight, and 
who is, I know, proud of this occasion, and of the history that makes 
it ; of Henry L. Pierce, an eminent merchant, lately mayor of Boston, 
and more recently a representative in Congress ; and of his brother, 
E. L. Pierce, always fervent and steadfast in the faith, and among the 
ablest of its advocates. He may justly count it not among the least 
of the honors that have come to him in professional and political 
life, that he enjoyed the warm friendship and perfect confidence of 
Charles Sumner to the end, and is named by him in his will as one 
to take charge of his literary work, and put it in abiding form. 

We may also refer to the honorable gentleman who is our presiding 
officer, as one who did valiant work in the days of '48. Though 
honors of wider significance have since come to him, I venture the 
oj)inion that in no part of his political record does he find profounder 
satisfaction than in that made as a Free-Soiler of 1848. 

I see before me Governor Claflin, who was foremost among the 
faithful, and who has since been honored by Massachusetts as Gov- 
ernor, and now as member-elect of Congress. As I look through this 
hall, other names occur, such as Sewall, the learned and judicious 
legal adviser in re fugitive slave cases, and kindred matters. I note 
also the presence of Alley, Davis, Thompson, Clarke, Thayer, Grover, 
Wood, Gooch, Gould, Taft, Allen, and many others who are entitled 
to honorable mention. 

Among the absent, let us not forget Whittier, who all his life has 
nobly sung the songs of freedom and of peace ; nor the names of 
Bacon, Pettee, and Rice, co-workers with Jackson of Newton. H. B. 
Stanton, now of New York, will be remembered. As standing afar 
off, leading the van, and encouraging, in a prudent and careful way, 
what they thought was good and promising in the Free-Soilers, and 
urging them on to advanced positions, we must not forget the names 
of Phillips and Garrison. 

In the course of nature, the men of '48 now living must soon take 
their places by the side of those of their coadjutors who have gone 



Reunion of Free-Sailers of 1848. 65 

before. Cicero, in bis essay, " De Senectute? takes the view, that 
among the felicities of the future life is the knowledge that one will 
have that his memory is cherished affectionately and with respect in 
the world he once lived in. Have we not reason to hope that, if such 
be one of the rewards of well-doing, the Free-Soilers of 1848 will 
enjoy that felicity ? 

Thanking you, gentlemen, for your kind attention, and you, Mr. 
Downer, for making this reunion and historic occasion possible, I 
give way to others who, I am certain, will entertain us with more of 
reminiscence and discussion. 



ADDRESS OF THE HON. JAMES N. BUFFUM. 

Mr. President: — I am happy to be present on this occasion to 
meet so many of the old friends of human freedom, and to congrat- 
ulate ourselves upon the great work which has been achieved through 
the united efforts of all who have labored to make our country free. 
We come here, not for self-gratification, or for political advancement, 
but to look each other in the face, to shake hands once more in 
cordial, loving sympathy, and to arouse the old patriotic fires; to 
keep alive that love of God and man that burned so bright in the 
early days of our consecration ; and, above all, to thank God that he 
has permitted us to labor in the great and glorious cause of freedom. 

When we look back to the days when William L. Garrison began 
his work against slavery, — a work, all things considered, of greater 
magnitude than anything that has ever been accomplished in this, if 
not in any other country, — we are appalled in its contemplation ; the 
brain grows dizzy over it, and we know that no human power could 
ever have accomplished it ; we know that nothing short of the most 
self-sacrificing and devoted labor of wise and patriotic men and 
women, aided by the powers above, could have made that work 
triumphant. At that time, slavery was so interwoven into all our 
institutions, religiously, politically, and pecuniarily, that it defied all 
power, human and divine. Henry Clay said " that two hundred years 
had sanctioned and sanctified human slavery, and no power on earth 
could overthrow it." It was recognized in the Constitution of the 
United States ; cherished and protected by State laws more cruel and 
diabolical than ever before disgraced our statute-books. These laws 
made it a crime to teach a slave to read the name of the God who 
made him,— one thousand dollars fine for the first offence, and death 
for the second. Men were loaded with chains and fetters, branded 
with hot irons, — the names of the owners burned deep into their 
9 



66 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

quivering flesh, — and if any dared to run away from their cruel task- 
masters, they were hunted down with bloodhounds and returned. 
Time would fail me to describe the atrocities and horrors of the 
slave system. All this system of despotism was sanctioned by both 
Church and State, when a few patriotic men and women, inspired 
with justice and love, went forth in the strength which a noble cause 
always inspires to work its overthrow. Never since the days of 
Thermopylae, when that little Spartan band threw themselves into 
that deadly breach, has the world witnessed a more sublime consecra- 
tion. It was the sacrificing of all that men hold dear on the altar of 
humanity, the giving up of all political prospects, all religious rec- 
ognition, all social enjoyment, and to be counted a fool, that our 
country might indeed be made free. 

How well and how truly they have accomplished their work, let 
this large and happy assembly answer. Let the four millions, whose 
chains have been broken, speak. Let the glad notes of these enfran- 
chised millions proclaim the magnitude and the glory of this hour, 
which we are permitted to see, — when our flag waves over a free and 
enlightened people, and the sun does not rise on a slave, nor set on a 
slave-master. But, friends, let us not be satisfied to retire from the 
field where we have done such good service, but let us remember that 
"the price of liberty is eternal vigilance 1 '; that it is only as we are 
watchful and vigilant that we can prevent the encroachments of des- 
potism. We have gained much, but there remains much more to be 
accomplished. There are still wrongs to be righted, evils to be 
encountered, which will tax the stoutest hearts, and require the 
strongest nerves to assail. Let us not forget that the grand idea 
which lies at the basis of our institutions, as well as that of the 
Christian religion, is the " equality of the human race " ; equal rights 
and equal burdens should be the motto of every friend of his race. 

At a time like this, when God has prospered us as he has no other 
nation ; when he has opened the windows of heaven and poured us 
out blessings so thick and so fast that we have not room to receive 
them ; when the West is full of provisions, sufficient for two or three 
countries like ours ; when the East is full of all kinds of goods to 
wear ; the North and the South are running over with material bless- 
ings, our banks flooded with money, cheaper than ever before known 
in this country, — we should not look each other in the face despond- 
ingly. No ! let us once more put on the harness for a new fight 
against all forms of oppression. I am, perhaps, the oldest in this great 
conflict with slavery now present, with the exception of one, having 
labored since 1831, and yet I do not feel weary in well-doing, and I 
shall consider myself happy if I can continue to work on to the end. 
I see in this assembly Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., whom I recognize as 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S48. 67 

one of the earliest of the anti-slavery friends, whose labors and wise 
counsel made it possible for the organization of the political parties 
which followed moral agitation. I do not stand here to criticise the 
labors of any, or to say who has done the most to bring about these 
grand results, but to say that no one has worked earnestly in vain, — 
all was needed. He who quarries the granite, and shapes it to fit its 
proper place in the great temple of freedom, is no less a useful work- 
man than he who was the architect and first conceived of its beautiful 
proportions, and shaped them into form for the admiration of men. 
I hope the time will come when all artificial distinctions will be done 
away; when a better culture, broader opportunities for labor, and 
better knowledge of true relation of capital and labor, will reconcile 
all disturbing elements in our land ; when every class, grade, and 
condition shall enjoy equal blessings, as well as carry equal burdens. 
Mr. President, I thank Mr. Downer, through you, for his kind 
invitation to be with you, and although I was not so much of an 
active politician as some present, I trust I did my share to make a 
public sentiment against slavery, without which no political party 
could have existed. 



ADDRESS OF CHARLES W. SLACK. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :— My interest in the Free-Soil 
movement of 1848 grew out of my Democratic education, that this 
was a government of the people ; that the people should rule ; and that 
the mass of the people had their interests consulted in governmental 
affairs. I w r as prone to ask my respected father whether the four 
millions of " people " at the South, held in bondage, had no claims 
upon our consideration. The formation of the Free-Soil party was 
the occasion for a practical interest in those " people, 1 ' impelled by 
the logic of consistency and the sentiment of humanity. It was a 
great satisfaction to belong to a party that had a high moral idea. I 
well remember how enthusiastic I was that the blot of human serv- 
itude should be removed from our otherwise creditable national 
escutcheon. I was joyed to find so many other young men sharing 
with me that feeling. Those men, now grown to maturity's estate, 
will be ever most dear to me, whether in the living presence, or only 
as a memory and an inspiration. We resolved we would give no 
rest to our feet, no silence to our tongues, till the great task was 
accomplished. To this aim we sacrificed business, ambition, con- 
venience, and social position. To this end we were ready for any 
or all political combinations that w T ould the speedier and more surely 



68 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848* 

bring the consummation desired. We fought long, — I know it was 
well, — and, in the result, we have a right to be prouder than over any 
other achievement of life. 

The period of our national history from 1845 to 1865 can never be 
complemented for sublime and ennobling disinterestedness. The 
sacrifice of old political relations ; the ardor for new contests which 
followed recurring defeats ; the grand enthusiasm of the first Republi- 
can campaign under Fremont; the anxious devotion to principle 
under the leadership of Lincoln ; the noble rising of the country for 
its imperilled nationality ; the vigor of the maintenance of the armies ; 
the hot earnestness for the enrolling of the negroes ; the transcendent 
glory of the emancipation of the slaves ; the sublime vindication of 
our Republic in the final result of the war, — all these were part of 
the honors that came to the little band that stood upon principle in 
1848. Such aims, enthusiasms, and results can hardly, in the nature 
of things, occur a second time, in so limited a period, in our history. 
I would not part with my share in the joy of this great endeavor for 
all the wealth that a close business application for the same period 
could bring. 

And this last suggestion prompts me to ask whether an indiffer- 
ence to great moral issues in national life ever is recompensed. I 
knew many a young man of my own age who had no interest in the 
problem we sought to work out ; they toiled and wrought, and com- 
parative prosperity came to them, while the claims of a higher public 
life, and the reconciliation of our national practice with our profes- 
sion, were matters of little concern. I have seen many of these men 
brought to adversity, even to poverty, through the vicissitudes of 
business. Permanent success has not been theirs, and when this was 
denied, no hallowing came to them through the remembrance of a 
devoted interest in the liberty of bondmen, or the redemption of a 
blighted land. Nor have all the soldiers in Freedom's cause been 
blessed with this world's goods ; but they have that priceless reward 
which cannot be taken from them, — the knowledge that, by their 
devotion, consistency, and endurance, they have seen the glory of God 
in the removal of slavery from our land, and may yet realize the 
promise of a homogeneous, happy, prosperous people. Heaven 
grant that this may be our final satisfaction ere we pass from the 
cares of earth ! 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S4S. 69 

LETTER FROM DR. EDWARD JARVIS. 

Dorchester, August 16, 1877. 

My Dear Mr. Downer : — I regretted my inability to attend your 
celebration of the twenty-ninth anniversary of the Free-Soil move- 
ment. I was at Provincetown, the extreme end of Cape Cod, on 
that day; but there I thought of you and of your doings with great 
interest and sympathy. 

Afterward, at the house of Judge Scndder, in Barnstable, I saw 
the full account of the proceedings of the day at the Landing. 

The feelings of that time — 1848 — are still fresh in my mind and 
heart. I had for years watched the progress of Southern aggression, 
and in sorrow wondered at our Northern apathy and willingness to 
submit to it. 

As the South always said, " This is our last request or demand,' 1 
we acquiesced for the sake of peace. But when they had secured 
their gain, and we were going on unsuspectingly, they put forth 
another last demand, with the same assurance, that never again would 
they disturb the peaceful compact. 

So they went on with renewed exactions from year to year, from 
generation to generation, and we with renewed and renewing sub- 
mission. There seemed to be no end of the Southern power of self- 
expansion, and of our self-contraction of spirit, — all for the sake of 
peace. 

The South had had all, in its own way, from 1789 to 1850, and there 
was nothing in the past relations of the two divisions of the country 
to indicate that the same would not continue, — none could foresee how 
long. 

Fortunately, the South grew impatient of this sure progress of gain, 
and wanted to grasp all at once, and then our eyes were forcibly 
opened, and we saw our past error, and redeemed it. The South 
found that the wrath of the patient man, which wisdom had ever 
advised the world to avoid, was terrible and destructive. 

If we had resisted in the beginning, or at any subsequent occasion, 
the South would have threatened, scolded, and stormed, and there it 
would have ended. But perhaps the opportunity of extinguishing 
slavery would not have been oflFered, and we might have had it even 
to this day. 

Perhaps it was best as it happened. The course of Providence is 
always the best. 

Do you know how Judge Wilmot happened to have his name 
attached to the celebrated " Proviso " against the extension of slav- 
ery ? General Garfield told me the story 



70 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

When one of the Southern plans was before Congress, there were 
fourteen Democrats in the House who were determined to put this 
condition into the bill. They had hitherto gone with their party in 
favor of all the Southern demands. Now they prepared this proviso, 
and each one had a copy in his hands. They agreed that, at the 
proper time, all of them should rise (with probably many others), and 
call out, "Mr. Speaker," with the reasonable expectation that the 
Speaker would notice and acknowledge one of the fourteen. Wilmot 
caught the Speaker's eye, and offered the proviso, which went there- 
after in his name. Judge Wilmot deserved the credit no more than 
any other of the fourteen ; and how slight a turn of the Speaker's eye 
might have given the proviso another name ? 

Very truly and affectionately, 

Edward Jarvis. 

Samuel Downer, Esq., Boston. 



LETTER FROM REV. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. 

Magnolia, Mass. 

Dear Mr. Downer : — I have manifested my interest in the meet- 
ing of Free-Soilers already in two ways, unknown to you. I wrote 
a poem, to be read on that occasion, and wrote it amid the heats of 
summer and the idleness, of vacation ; thus, as the poet Saadi says, 
" Squeezing the moisture from a shrivelled brain, and digesting 
the smoke of a profitless lamp." This was one proof of my interest 
in your meeting. The second was, that when I came to the Landing, 
I did not disclose the fact that I had written these verses, and so 
spared you and the company the hearing of them. And now I give 
another proof of my unwillingness to be left out of your sympathies, 
by sending these poor lines, which you are at liberty to print or sup- 
press, at your convenience. 

Gratefully and sincerely yours, 

James Freeman Clarke. 

THERMOPYLAE AND SALAMIS. 

" Free Soil ! Free Speech ! Free Presses ! and Free Men ! " 
Such were the watchwords on our standards, when 

We stood in Freedom's stern Thermopylae, 
And saw the vast barbaric host combine 
To crush our thin but unretreating line, 

And plant, on innocent soil, the weed of Slavery. 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 18-iS. 71 

Around us, and behind us, and before, 
From Western prairie to the Atlantic shore, 

That Persian army stretched across the land; 
It seemed the darkest hour of human fate, 
For all the powers which govern Church and State, 
With pride, and strength, and victory elate, 

Misleading or misled, made up the mighty band. 

To drown our voice, old hates suspend their war; 
The two great parties cease their endless jar, 

And, to appal our soul with strange surprises, 
Calhoun and Webster walk one common way, 
Like lamb and lion, who together play, 
Led by that little child, called Henry Clay, — 

To save the Constitution's compromises. 

Commerce and trade, behind them, shout aloud; 
To Union meetings Wall and State street crowd ; 

Mob, press, and parlor join the mighty throng; 
Each subtle lawyer brings his precedent ; 
Each South-side doctor his cold argument ; 
And even the holy law of God is bent, 

To prove that black is white, and right is wrong. 

What was our strength in that unequal fight ? 
Who stood with us to battle for the right, 

In that dread pass, our land's Thermopylae ? 
Conscience — strong-siding champion — was there, 
And God's eternal laws, like angels fair, 
A heavenly army in the upper air, 

Prophets of hope and coming victory. 

And hearts below, as brave as ever beat, 
Which had no sense for failure or defeat, — 

Adams and Palfrey, Birney, Giddings, Hale,— 
Soldiers made strong by danger and distress ; 
Heroes in street or Senate, Church or Press, 
Like voices crying in the wilderness ; 

Pilots, to guide the ship through breakers, night, and gale. 

Through this Thermopylae our land has passed, 
And reached its glorious Salamis at last, 

When every slave is free, and all the land is one. 
And now, when this dark cloud has passed away, 
This night has settled into sunny day, 
And we, on Slavery's tomb, keep holy day, 

Forget not those with whom the strife begun. 



72 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 



ADDRESS OF J. B. MANN OF NATICK. 

Mr. President: — Our meeting to-day is not for the purpose of 
celebrating the first political anti-slavery movement made in this 
country, as seems to be the impression of our friend Mr. Tuck, who 
certainly did important work in New Hampshire a little earlier, but 
to take note of the anniversary of the Buffalo Convention, its pre- 
liminaries, and revive memories and associations of the noted year, 
1848, when the anti-slavery sentiment of the country at large first 
crystallized into a formidable political national party. 

But, leaving this, allow me to say one word by way of reminiscence. 
Our distinguished Senator, Mr. Hoar, has done justice to the memory 
of Charles Allen, the delegate to the Whig National Convention 
which nominated General Taylor, who had the courage to pro- 
nounce the party dead from that moment, and take his hat, and, in 
company with Henry Wilson, march out of the convention. While 
he has not intended to depreciate Mr. Wilson, I am sure the effect of 
his remarks leaves an impression that Allen was the leader and 
Wilson the follower, — not only in the sense that he went out of the 
hall last, but that he went at the suggestion, or under the inspiration, 
of Judge Allen as a leader. This was not so. The idea of bolting 
was planned in Boston, and was well understood by several before 
the delegates started for Philadelphia. I well remember that Wilson 
was fully determined not to abide the nomination of General Taylor, 
unless something authentic came from Taylor himself at the conven- 
tion, which could be accepted by the believers in the " Wilmot Pro- 
viso"; and he was active and untiring in his efforts to bring the 
whole delegation up to his views, though, I suppose, Allen was in 
accord with him. 

These movements attracted the attention of a gentleman, well 
known and held in esteem in Boston at that time, by the name of 
Daniel Webster, and he invited Allen and Wilson to a conference at 
the Tremont House, which was held the week before the convention, 
and attended by several other prominent men. I saw Wilson early 
the next day, and he was in high spirits. Webster, he said, indorsed 
the plan of adhering to the " Wilmot Proviso " as a finality, or to the 
idea of the ordinance of '87, and would support them in insisting 
upon it, and having the candidate committed to it. 

It was supposed that a majority of the Massachusetts delegates 
were in the Webster interest, and could be controlled by him to fol- 
low the plan agreed upon ; but, as it happened, Allen and Wilson had 
to march out by themselves, exciting derision as a " county judge, 
and a contemptible cobbler," striving to smash a machine that was 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S4S. 73 

about to run over them. To break the Webster phalanx in Massa- 
chusetts, Abbot Lawrence had been tickled with the promise of sup- 
port as the candidate for Vice-President on the ticket with Taylor, and 
having for many years done not a little in behalf of Mr. Webster, 
he now took very kindly to the idea that it was a good time to do 
something for himself; and then it would be a great consolation to 
Massachusetts to have the Vice-Presidency, in case the Presidency 
was not to fall to her lot, after the battle was over. Fillmore was 
tickled with the other end of the same straw, and that was the straw 
which broke the back of Daniel Webster, and made General Taylor 
President of the United States. 

Upon the return of Allen and Wilson, the Worcester Convention 
was organized, and with the concurrence of Mr. Webster ; but sub- 
sequently he gave way, and supported General Taylor — as candidate 
never was supported before — by declaring to the amazed countenance 
of Abbot Lawrence and others, who paid for the Marshfield speech, 
that it was a " nomination not fit to be made." 

Well, at Worcester we had Sumner, Allen, Samuel Hoar, Hale, 
Giddings, Lew Campbell, Hopkins, Wilson, and others too numerous 
to name. It was a stirring time. I had never seen masses of men 
so moved as they were upon this occasion, and except in connection 
with the scenes of the great Rebellion, I have never seen them so 
moved since. We are able to measure now the meaning of what 
was in the souls of the men of that day, though very few of us know 
the half of what it cost in study, effort, zeal, and unflinching courage 
and perseverance, to bring about the final result. To the organizing 
brain, the settled purpose, the sagacious counsel, the strong faith, the 
unyielding tenacity, and constant fidelity of Henry Wilson, more, I 
think, was due than to any single person in shaping the course of the 
Free-Soil party, and in making finally true the declaration of Charles 
Allen at Philadelphia, " The Whig party is no more, and will have no 
resnrrection. v He performed a work no other man of our time was 
qualified to perform. Other men contributed eloquence, thought, 
inspiration, counsel, labor, faith, and gave of their time and wealth, 
and voice and brain, to push along the great work. But Wilson 
gave himself. He lost all thought or care for money, and business, 
and ease, and convenience, and sleep, and bodily health, and social 
enjoyment, and went in, with all he had and all he hoped for, to aid 
the cause This was what was needed, and what, in a large measure, 
no other man gave, or had to give. 

I would not say here or anywhere that Wilson was not ambitious, 

for he was, — intensely ambitious ; but that does not detract from his 

merit as a worker, and a producer of results. To succeed, Emerson 

says, "hitch your chariot to the stars"; and Wilson, fastening his 

10 



74 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

to the glorious star of right, found, and deserved, the gratification of 
a laudable ambition. This occasion should not pass without at least 
so much of acknowledgment to the memory of one of the most 
useful practical statesmen of the stirring times through which we 
have in the last thirty years been passing, and who was the personal 
acquaintance, probably, of every man within the sound of my voice. 



ADDRESS OF J. E. CRANE OF BRIDGE WATER. 

We stand here to-day to revive early memories of the party that 
was specially organized to reclaim this Government from the grasp 
of slavery. The men who were foremost in that movement were 
resolute and strong to maintain a righteous cause, regardless of 
threats, intimidations, or proscription. 

It was a happy conception of Mr. Downer to call the survivors of 
that early contest to this charming spot, to recount their trials and 
their victories, and to rejoice together in the retrospect of the reced- 
ing past. With joy we greet each other ; with delight we grasp the 
hand of fraternal friendship. With so much to review that is cheer- 
ing, and with such happy memories as press upon us, there is still a 
tinge of sadness as we note the absent ones, whom the Great Reaper 
has gathered to their rewards. 

Sumner, Wilson, Allen, Mann, Phillips, Burlingame, Howe, Andrew, 
Webb, and others, " of whom the world was not worthy,' 1 whose voices 
inspired our early convocations for the cause of freedom, are with us 
in spirit, and to their memories would we devote our most fragrant 
and unfading garlands. 

The Old Colony was represented in that early struggle by many 
of whose worth it would be well to speak, who have passed away, 
but who still live in the memory and affections of those who knew 
them best. Tillinghast, the distinguished teacher of Bridgewater; 
Davis, the young and able son of the Pilgrims ; Philo Leach, Joseph 
Kingman, and Dr. Caleb Swan, — all ardently devoted to the high 
duty of reclaiming the country from the stain of oppression. May 
we not rejoice with thanksgiving to the Great Author of all for what 
our eyes have been permitted to behold, while others who desired it 
long, died without the sight ? Assembled as we are, not for self- 
gratulations, but to mark the historic past, and to do homage to those 
who have gone before, may we not catch a new inspiration to higher 
and better aims, and pledge with true and honest hearts the rem- 
nant of our days to unfaltering devotion to the best interest of our 
beloved Commonwealth, and our common country ? 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 75 



ADDRESS OF REV. EDWIX THOMPSON OF WALPOLE, MASS. 

Mr. Chairman:— I noticed that the Hon. George F. Hoar said he 
did not know but he was too young to claim much connection with 
the Free-Soil movement. His remark has suggested the thought to 
me, that, perhaps, I am too old, having been connected with the anti- 
slavery movement from the start, — somewhere about 1828 or 1829. 
I had given some five hundred addresses on the subject previous to 
the organization of the Free-Soil party. I happened to be present 
when the Liberty party, with which I voted, united with the Free-Soil 
party ; and, if my memory does not fail me, the Hon. William Jack- 
son — a name never to be forgotten, certainly one of the best men whom 
I ever knew — presided at the last meeting of the Liberty party, which 
was held in Tremont Temple. I remember, after the Free-Soil party 
was organized, that, in connection with my friend, F. W. Bird, I 
labored to unite our forces with those of such Democrats as were 
more in favor of freedom than of the mere name of Democracy, in 
order to secure the election of some true man and friend of freedom, 
who would more truly represent the great heart of Massachusetts in 
the Senate than he who had recently so disgraced it. I remember 
that Mr. Bird and myself visited quite a number of towns with this 
purpose in view. Mr. Bird agreed to find horse and carriage, and to 
go with me when his business would permit. As Mr. Bird has 
remarked in his speech to-day, we must have all been somewhat dis- 
interested, as we never took any pay for time or services. Of course, 
neither Mr. Bird nor myself, at that time, ever expected to obtain any 
public office by the course we were pursuing. We visited other 
counties besides our own, to awaken the people in reference to the 
matter. I remember that the " Boston Atlas " said, in the report of a 
meeting where the forces of the Democrats and Free-Soilers united, 
that '• two jockeys from Norfolk County were present," meaning, of 
course, Mr. Bird and myself. We succeeded in bringing about what we 
desired ; viz., a union of the two parties. These labors, in connection 
with those of others in different parts of the State, resulted, by the aid 
of Divine Providence, in the election of Charles Sumner to the United 
States Senate. I have always felt grateful that I was able to contribute 
to so glorious a result. I thought then, and I think now, that the course 
of yourself, Mr. Chairman, on that occasion, was perfectly sublime ; 
and, however different our opinions may be now, I believe that that 
course, at that time, — the son of John Quincy Adams, with your sur- 
roundings, and your prospects for the future, — was, in its noble self- 
sacrifice, second to that of no other man in the Commonwealth. Time 
would fail me to speak of our noble friends of the past, such as Judge 
Allen, Hon. Robert Rantoul, Jr., Hon. Horace Mann, of whom our 
friend, Mr. Downer, has spoken so justly, Rev. Charles T. Torrey, 



76 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

Hon. Henry Wilson, Hon. Samuel Hoar, Hon. Amasa Walker, John 
W. Browne, with many others, who gave their hearts and hands to 
this movement, which, in connection with the earlier anti-slavery 
agitation, and with the aid of other events, unlooked for by us, but, 
as we trust, not unforeseen in the providence of God, has resulted in 
the liberation of four millions of human beings from a worse than 
Egyptian bondage. 



ADDRESS OF ALBERT TOLMAN OF WORCESTER. 

Mr. President: — The reference by Mr. Hoar to the meeting held 
at Worcester to give Judge Allen an opportunity to report his doings 
at the Philadelphia Convention revives many recollections. Our 
friend, Mr. Chamberlin, who is one of your guests, remembers the 
doubts and discouragements experienced at the time. He met Mr. 
Allen immediately after his return, and assured him, if he would 
speak, he .would be sustained by a large number of respectable 
citizens ; but that, on the part of gentlemen of his own and other 
professions, there might be coldness for a time. 

Then, as always, before and since, Worcester was the home of pro- 
fessional gentlemen of superior ability, many of whom, as you well 
know, sir, have done the State and country good service ; none of 
them much harm, and so all are to be gratefully remembered. 

Then there was another element in the population of Worcester. For 
twenty years it had increased rapidly, by the coming in of persons from 
the surrounding towns to engage in various productive pursuits ; and 
whether they were to be employers or employes, they were equals, 
and the Worcester of that day had come to be called the paradise of 
mechanics. In this emergency they were reliable. We fear its 
growth since, and the increase of our other towns, has not been quite 
so healthy. There were trials about that first meeting; many 
thought it would be a failure — only a fizzle. But the large hall was 
crowded ; numbers were there to scoff, not to listen ; but they did 
listen ; some repented, some resolved again. Our honorable Senator 
has just given us his estimate of the speech Charles Allen delivered 
that evening. Most of us remember it. And when, at its close, the 
Rev. George Allen came to the platform, and in clear, ringing tones 
gave forth the sentiment that was repeated with enthusiasm at so 
many of the meetings afterwards, " Massachusetts wears no chains 
and spurns all bribes ; she goes now, and ever will go, for free 
thought and free speech, free soil and free men," the Free-Soil party 
was born in strength, with its distinctive name. 

Worcester, at its next election, made Henry Chapin mayor. 
Nearly all the representatives from Worcester County were Free- 
Soilers, and Charles Allen was elected to Congress from his district. 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 77 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. SEBEAS C. MAINE. 

Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Old Free-Soil Party : — 
It is with feelings of deep emotion that I look upon this assembly, 
— those upturned faces, beneath bald or thinly covered heads, — re- 
membering as I do that but yesterday you were in the full strength 
and beauty of manly vigor, having espoused a cause but one step less 
distasteful to political rule than the unpardonable sin of Abolition. 
In fact. I see before me while I speak some of that " accursed race," 
who dared to question the right of property in another by reason of 
caste or color; and if I may be pardoned for personalities, I must 
say to our worthy and venerable friend who has spread out this 
bountiful feast for our enjoyment, Thou art one of them, "for thy 
speech betrayeth thee. 1 ' 

There are volumes in two words in the heading of the call for this 
interesting meeting. — "Then" and "JVbw." How few, alas! of that 
little band of determined men are here to-day to answer to the roll- 
call ! We seek them and their places in vain. The invisible shuts 
them out ; and yet we feel, we know, that to-day they are here pres- 
ent with us. 

" How cheering the thought that the spirits in bliss 
May bow their bright wings to a world such as this." 

Among the many who "have gone over the river," and who have 
been alluded to this day with so much kind remembrance, foremost 
in my recollection is the name of Stephen C. Phillips. I was called to 
preside over the first Free-Soil convention held in the old Fifth Con- 
gressional District at Salem. Mr. Phillips was chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions. There are doubtless some here to-day who 
attended that convention. If so, they can bear testimony with me of 
his great earnestness on that occasion, and to the strength and 
significance of the resolutions by him presented. "Then " it required 
courage to be an Abolitionist, or even a Free-Soil man ; but after a 
few years, it was apparent that the tide was setting in another direc- 
tion, until at length the truth of the proverb was verified, " Whom 
the gods would destroy they first make mad." Rebellion came, and 
with it the great struggle for freedom for three millions of slaves, — a 
prophetic number indeed ! The number of the Israelites that God 
released from Egyptian bondage ;— the number of colonists that in 
our "grandfathers 1 days*' scorned to be enslaved. A Moses was 
provided for the Israelites, a Washington for the colonists, and a 
Lincoln for the oppressed slaves. The labor of years was finished 
when, with his pen, he signed the proclamation of emancipation. 

I hope we may never cease to wonder at the result of the signing 
of that proclamation. Three millions of slaves at once transformed to 



78 Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 

freemen, and three millions of voters for the first time discovered that 
they were Abolitionists, and had been from their earliest recollection, 
and were ready with overwhelming testimony to prove it ! And now 
you, venerable gentlemen, who have "borne the burden and heat 
of the day," are continually reminded by those gentlemen of sudden 
and miraculous conversion of the great obligations you are under to 
them for bringing about the thing which, most of all, you desired ! 
Oh, how much labor and anxiety would have been saved you, gen- 
tlemen, if those hidden fires of freedom, so long smouldering in those 
three million bosoms, had kindled into a flame thirty years sooner! 

Our worthy host has interested us with some incidents in his early 
conversion to the cause of freedom. Pardon me for referring to my 
own. In 1836, while yet a stripling, I happened to be spending a 
few days in the quiet little village of Canistota, in Central New York. 
While I was there, the Abolitionists from various parts of the State 
met in convention at that place. They were attacked, by a mob, their 
meeting broken up, and their printing-press thrown into the canal. 
Among those present was Gerrit Smith of Peterboro'. He was not 
there to take an active part in the convention, but only as " a looker- 
on in Vienna." When he saw the convention broken up, he extended 
to them an invitation to meet the next morning at Peterboro 1 , where 
he promised them protection. His invitation was accepted, and at 
sunrise on the following morning the entire delegation set out on 
foot for Peterboro', distant seven miles. I was at Peterboro' when 
the delegation arrived, and entered the " meeting-house " with them. 
Mr. Smith was chosen by an unanimous vote to preside over their 
deliberations. Although many years have since passed by, still the 
doings of that day are as fresh in my mind as the doings of yester- 
day. And although I have since seen many a noble-looking man 
presiding on many occasions, I have never seen the equal of Gerrit 
Smith on that occasion ; and his language was the perfection of 
human utterance. 

He said that he attended the convention the day before as an inter- 
ested listener, but the acts of an infuriated mob, and the meditations 
of a sleepless night, had made the path of duty plain before him in 
the future ; " and from this hour," said he, with emotion, " my life, my 
property, and all I have, and all that I can do, shall be devoted to 
the cause of Abolition." 

I know not how many were converted on that occasion, but I do 
know that one, at least, was converted. We have lived to see the 
great work accomplished, but no man can tell how it was done, and 
we leave it as a decree of fate ! 

" Whatever acts we perpetrate, 
We only row,— we 're steered by fate." 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1848. 79 



LETTER FROM ELIZUR WRIGHT. 

[From the Boston Transcript of Aug. 13.] 

To the Editor of the Transcript : — The Free-Soil celebration 
at Downer's little paradise, Thursday, was every way a most delicious 
occasion, but there were two historical points that seemed to me not 
to have been brought out in their true or full light. They were 
slightly refracted. One was the cause of Henry Clay's defeat in 1844, 
and the other the reason for making Martin Van Buren the Free- 
Soil candidate in 1848. Had John G. Whittier been present, I think 
he could have given a clearer vision on both those points. 

The earliest of the political Abolitionists were friends, and some of 
them almost worshippers, of Henry Clay. But soon after the forma- 
tion of the American Anti-Slavery Society, in 1833, and years before 
political action was commenced, they entered into correspondence 
with Mr. Clay and some other Southern statesmen, both individually 
and collectively. The object was to discover their honest, inside 
opinions as to the ultimate freedom or destiny of the negro. Mr. 
Clay, I know very well, in letters marked " strictly confidential," 
responded to the letters of the Anti-Slavery Society in such a way as 
not only to extinguish all hope of any aid from him, but as to con- 
vince the executive committee that he was a more dangerous enemy 
to the freedom of the negro even than John C. Calhoun. His words 
for freedom had not been meant for American soil. 1 am very sure 
that Mr. Whittier's faith in him was so much shaken that he did not 
consider the election of Polk in 1844 a greater evil than that of Clay 
would have been. It was not Mr. Clay's letter to citizens of Ala- 
bama, or of " Western New York," that defeated him, but his hypo- 
critical conduct years before, and especially his making himself the 
stiffest pillar of the slave power in the United States Senate, Feb. 
7, 1839, when he said : " I know that there is a visionary dogma 
which holds that negro slaves cannot be the subjects of property. I 
shall not dwell long with this speculative abstraction. That is 
property which the law declares to be property. Two hundred 
years of legislation have sanctioned and sanctified negro slaves as 
property." 

Here was the reason why 70,000 men voted for Birney, and elected 
Polk. Many more would have done so, probabh T , if the Whigs in 
their blind madness had not forged a letter from Birney to Garland, 
in which the Liberty candidate was made, just before election, to sell 
himself to the Democrats for a seat in the Michigan Legislature. 
That cruel and infamous forgery was so well calculated to deceive, 



80 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

that no less a man than Daniel Webster backed its genuineness by 
the " fool's argument " of a bet ! 

Yet even the most conscientious of the Whigs, including probably 
many of those who went into the Free-Soil movement of 1848, have 
hardly yet forgiven the Abolitionists for voting for Birney in 1844. 
They seem inclined to put it into history that the increase of the anti- 
slavery vote from 70,000 in 1844 to 300,000 in 1848 was pretty much 
their work. 

This brings me to the second point, why was Van Buren and not 
McLean the candidate of the Buffalo Convention ? And it is here 
that Mr. Adams and the whole clam-bake, it seems to me, fail to do 
justice to history. Mr. McLean was a distinguished Whig citizen, 
whose position in regard to slavery was almost wholly unknown. 

With all Liberty men, a part of whom had already nominated 
Gerrit Smith, his nomination at Buffalo would have fallen pretty 
dead. Mr. Van Buren, who had incurred the displeasure of the then 
extant Abolitionists in 1836 by his foolish campaign pledge to veto 
abolition in the District of Columbia, had, while President, been 
rather discreet on the subject of slavery, except perhaps, in regard to 
the Amistad captives, so bravely rescued at last by John Quincy 
Adams. In his last message, he put some paragraphs about the 
African slave trade, which, though they did not count much with the 
Abolitionists at the time, cost him, as he must have been conscious 
they would, some slaveholding votes ; for the Gulf slaveholders were 
then not only coveting Texas, but looking for cheaper slaves than 
the "vigintial crops" of Maryland and Virginia. He had been 
already nominated for his second term, and had he been the mere 
trickster the Whigs represented him, would have been elected. But 
in doughfacing, the other party had got the inside track, and Van 
Buren went down before " Harrison and Hard Cider." -In the whirl- 
wind, hurricane, and tornado of that campaign, the Abolitionists, 
though the male members of their societies exceeded fifty thousand, 
could rally only seven thousand votes for James G. Birney. Even 
the colored voters of Ward 6 went with the Whigs in mass, voting 
for Harrison only to be snubbed by Mayor Chapman and Marshal 
Josiah Quincy, Jr., at his public funeral, to which they had invited 
all citizens. 

The Democratic party, especially the Northern part of it, was 
intent upon nominating Martin Van Buren in 1844, and the more so 
from his defeat in 1840, which was regarded by them as undeserved, 
and which certainly was so in relation to his successful rival. That 
Mr. Van Buren could have secured the nomination of his party, and, 
of course, an election, by simply remaining silent, or writing a letter 
in his characteristic style, no observer of the period can doubt. 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S48. 81 

Instead of that, in March, 1844, he wrote a letter to a Mr. Hammet, in 
•which he not only took ground against the annexation of Texas, but 
gave the reasons for it in the most admirable and overwhelming 
manner. For once, at least, he put meaning into his language. He 
deliberately threw away the chance of his nomination by any pro- 
slavery party. It may well be doubted whether, considering all the 
circumstances, a more heroic act has been recorded of an}' American 
statesman. Mr. Clay, who, as a party man in quest of a nomination, 
had nothing to lose and everything to gain by it, wrote a similar, 
though shorter letter, about the same time. He secured the nomina- 
tion, and then, to secure votes at the South, favored annexation, or, 
as Mr. Adams says, equivocated. 

The principal leaders of the Liberty party, who had defeated Clay 
in 18-4-4, were not so stupid as to forget, in 1848, Van Buren's letter to 
Hammet in 1844. They wanted no new letter after that, only to 
know if he would consent to the nomination. When he was nomi- 
nated and did accept, they threw up their caps for him with a will, as 
the following extract from John G. Whittier in the "National Era" 
will show ; and, what is more, it will show where the change of heart 
probably came from which Mr. Van Buren had experienced since 
1836. Says Mr. Whittier :— 

" There is one circumstance, in this connection, which we have 
always regarded as highly honorable to Martin Van Buren. On the 
appearance of the message containing the Veto Pledge, one promi- 
nent Democrat, faithful among the faithless, condemned it boldly, 
unreservedly, and administered to its author an indignant rebuke. 
This man was William Leggett. Two years after, that brilliant and 
heroic genius, broken down by protracted illness, was advised to seek 
relief in a more genial climate, but his pecuniary circumstances were 
such as to preclude the idea of his profiting by this advice. It was at 
this time that President Van Buren tendered to him the honorable 
post of the mission to Guatemala, thus evincing his superiority to 
«rnerely personal resentment, and his magnanimous appreciation of 
honesty and fidelity to principle, even when exercised at his own 
expense, and contrary to his own views of expediency. He knew 
Leggett to be honest ; he knew him to be a true Democrat ; and in the 
season of his sickness and poverty, he visited him with a testimonial 
of confidence and esteem, which was as grateful to its recipient as it 
was creditable to the head and heart of the bestower. 

"We turn from that dark season, when both the great political 
parties felt themselves compelled to offer obeisance to the slave 
power, with joy and hope to the bright promise of the present time. 
We opposed Van Buren in 1837 because, and only because, he occu- 
pied a wrong position as respects slavery. He has now set himself 
right before the country and the world. He has rescued the honored 
name of Democracy from the reproach of an alliance with slavery. 
We can hesitate no longer. We cast to the winds our old prejudices 
and misgivings, and cheerfully, heartily, give our assent to the action 
of the Buffalo Convention. 1 ' 
tl 



82 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

The speakers, at the commemoration festival, seemed almost as 
good at forgetting as remembering. Even Mr. Tuck, in his anxiety 
to remember our genial John P. Hale as the first anti-slavery United 
States Senator, forgot that Thomas Morris, the Liberty-party candi- 
date for Vice-President, had done good anti-slavery work in the 
Senate still earlier. It was fortunate for the Buffalo Convention of 
August 9, 1848, that it had in it a good sprinkling of Liberty-party 
men like Joshua Leavitt, who looked for honest men in all parties, 
and who remembered that it was William Leggett, a young Demo- 
cratic editor, who, with the aid of Charles King, an editor of the old 
Federalist type, rescued the American Anti-Slavery Society from the 
mobs set upon it in 1834 by that prince of Whig editors, James 
Watson Webb. The good die young, and so died many who in the 
days of danger did more to free the slave than any now living. 

Elizur Wright. 

August 11, 1877. 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1S4S. 83 



APPENDIX, 



LETTER FROM THE HON. CHARLES A. PHELPS. 

Boston, August 3, 1877. 
Samuel Doavxer, Esq. 

Dear Sir: — I am greatly obliged to you for your kind invitation 
to the " Reunion of the Free-Soilers of 1848," on the 9th of August, 
and deeply regret that it will not be in my power to be present. 
Many of the leaders in that great movement, Wilson, Sumner, Bur- 
lingame, Phillips, have passed on ; others, advanced in years, — 

" Walk thoughtful 
On the silent, solemn shore 
Of that vast ocean 
"We must sail so soon." 

It will be a day of reminiscences of the living and the dead. You 
will, perhaps, pardon me for contributing a few of my own memories. 

My first recollection of the great anti-slavery struggle began in 
1831, in visits, as a boy of ten years of age, to the office of the 
" Liberator,' 1 where William Lloyd Garrison aud Isaac Kuapp set up 
the types with their own hands, living on bread and milk, and sleep- 
ing in berths in one corner of the office. There they "fired the 
shot heard round the world. 1 ' The office was in Merchants Hall, at 
the corner of Congress and Water Streets, where the Shawmut Bank 
now stands. The paper was started without subscribers and continued 
without capital. I may be excused for remembering that an honored 
father, now no more, was one of the little band of twelve or fifteen 
persons who, in January, 1832, formed the New England Anti-Slavery 
Society. In 1833, Mr. Garrison went to England and labored with 
Wilberforce, Maeaulay, and other English abolitionists, in the strug- 
gle for West India Emancipation. When about to return to America, 
they expressed their gratitude and said, " Now, what can we do for 
you ? " he replied, " Send us George Thompson." There must be 
some present at your meeting who remember the man and his elo- 
quent appeals. The anti-slavery sentiment in the Northern States 
was greatly increased and strengthened by his fervid oratory. Lord 
Brougham said of him in England : " I rise to take the crown of this 
glorious victory of emancipation from every other head, and place it 



84 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

upon George Thompson. 1 ' His meetings in Boston were generally 
held in Julian Hall, at the corner of Congress and Water streets, 
almost the only hall open in those days to the despised abolitionists. 
I attended most of his meetings, to the sad neglect of my school 
lessons. I can see and hear him now ! He was a natural orator, a 
tall, spare man, having the proverbial large mouth given to all great 
orators and singers. He had a sonorous voice and an animated 
delivery. His face resembled somewhat the face of Rev. Joseph 
Cook. His mouth, when open, recalled the story of the dentist who 
told his patient that it was " needless to open his mouth any wider, 
as he should stand on the outside." He lectured in most of the large 
towns and cities of New England. He was a man of gentle manners, 
of the loftiest courage, and of indomitable will. He was fearless of 
the mobs which so often greeted him, and was unsparing in denuncia- 
tion of the crimes of slavery. 

The fierce hatred of the unwelcome truths of anti-slavery cul- 
minated in the Garrison mob in Boston, October 21, 1835. The Anti- 
Slavery office was then in the third story of the building now 
numbered 180 Washington Street. In front of the building was a 
large sign lettered " Anti-Slavery Office." The crowd began to 
assemble about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, with threats and shouts. 
They dispersed a meeting of ladies in the hall. Soon after, men 
appeared at the windows with hammers, took down the sign, lowered 
it with ropes to the sidewalk, amid yells and shouts, where it was 
received by five or six well-known citizens (I never forgot their faces, 
or even their dress), and it was soon broken in pieces. With the 
privilege of a boy, I rushed in and saved a good-sized relic. The 
next day, on showing it to Mr. Benjamin F. Hallett, he said, " Keep it 
for years ; it is a piece of history," and, calling for a pen, he wrote a 
glowing inscription on the wood. 

Hearing that Mr. Garrison was in the rear of his office, I went 
around to Wilson's Lane, where, soon after, he appeared at the second- 
story window of a carpenter's shop, the mob shouting to those near 
to force him to come down. As he stepped upon the ladder to 
descend, his hat off, his spectacles removed, his face untroubled, he 
said, quietly, " I shall go down unresisting. Hail Columbia, land of 
liberty." As soon as he reached the yard, he was seized, led up Wil- 
son's Lane, surrounded by a crowd which filled the street, and with a 
man on each side holding him by the collar of his coat. As they 
turned into State Street, there were shouts, " Tar and feather him," 
" To the pump, to the pump," which then stood at the east end of the 
Old State House. But the crowd surged on up the north side of the 
Old State House, then the City Hall. When opposite the north door, 
several city officials, — among them I remember the portly form of 



Reunion of Free- Sorters of 1S48. So 

Deacon Samuel Greeley, — rushed into the street, seized Garrison, and 
carried him into the building. Soon a hack drove up, and Mr. Gar- 
rison appeared with an overcoat and sealskin cap; he was hurried 
into the carriage and driven to the Leveret Street jail for safe-keep- 
ing. Like all other mobs, it was a cowardly mob. Not more than a 
dozen men did the disgraceful work, and fifty determined policemen 
would have scattered the whole crowd. But it is along such a high- 
way, marked every furlong by scaffolds and gibbets and prisons, that 
Truth has marched to her grandest conquests. In 1837, I had an 
opportunity to witness, for the first time, the methods of calling a 
Faneuil Hall meeting. The city government had refused the use of 
the hall to the Rev. Dr. Channing and others, to denounce the murder 
of Lovejoy. I heard my father remark to a friend, " The refusal of 
Faneuil Hall for a meeting to denounce mob law is a disgrace to 
Boston. We ought to have a meeting to resent such an outrage." 
In a few moments, I was told to make copies of a call for a meeting 
in the Old City Hall, and was sent out to the newspapers with the 
notices. The meeting was held, Faneuil Hall secured, and I shall 
never forget the surprise and delight with which the brilliant first 
speech of Wendell Phillips, then twenty-six years old, w r as received 
in defence of the objects of the meeting. My acquaintance with 
Charles Sumner began in my boyhood, when he was a student at 
Cambridge. In 1846, in a little convention of Anti-Slavery men, 
a-sembled in the piano w T arerooms of Dea. Timothy Gilbert, I had 
the honor of nominating Mr. Sumner as a candidate for Congress 
from the Boston District, and was both astonished and pleased at 
receiving a call from him the next evening, to thank me for what he 
graciously called a speech. The Free-Soil movement of 1848, then 
called by its opponents a " fizzle," heralded the dissolution of the 
great Whig and Democratic parties. It was accelerated by Mr. 
Webster's speech on the 7th March, 1850, and fully accomplished by 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854. What a retrospect! 
From the little obscure office of the " Liberator," the uprising of the 
loyal millions in 1861, the emancipation of a race, and the regenera- 
tion of the Ptepublic ! The lesson which the Free-Soil movement 
teaches to young men, is, that moral truth is invincible ; no party 
organization can resist its power. Have the courage of your opin- 
ions. Go forth to the people for their verdict. 

"A good cause will stand and will abide, 
Legions of angels fight upon its side." 

I am, very truly yours, 

Charles A. Phelps. 
Samuel Downer, Esq. 



86 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 



LETTER FROM JAMES A. BRIGGS, Esq. 

54 East 25th Street, New York, ) 
August 6, 1877. > 

My Dear Sir: — Many thanks for your invitation to attend a 
Reunion of the Free-Soilers of 1848, at Melville Garden, on the 9th 
of August, instant. I very much regret that official engagements will 
deprive me of the pleasure of being at the Reunion, and of "crossing 
palms" with some of the men who were engaged in that " bloodless 
victory," in that ever-memorable year. 

Many who were with us in that great contest, and bore themselves 
nobly and well in its important work, have " passed through the dark 
waters," " to the beautiful land," to receive the reward of well-doing 
here in this lower life. 

Eighteen hundred and forty-eight was an eventful year for this 
country, and no political convention ever held was more important 
and far-reaching in its influence for human freedom than the Free- 
Soil Convention at Buffalo, in August, 1848. It was the first conven- 
tion that ever placed obstructions on the track of slavery, that the 
skilful engineers of that system of wrong had not the ability and 
power to remove. That convention was careful to act within the 
Constitution on the slave question, and at the same time it was deter- 
mined that no power, unknown to the Constitution, should be used 
for the purpose of extending slavery into new territory, where slavery 
was unknown. The late Judge McLean said to me, in a letter written 
in July, 1848, ." That Congress had no more right to make a slave 
than it had to make a king"; and this was the key-note of that 
convention. 

What memories crowd upon the mind at the recollection of that 
magnificent assemblage of men, who had met for one common purpose, 
moved by one common thought, actuated by one common feeling, and 
who had left their former political parties and associations, determined 
upon one thing, and one only, — to prevent the extension of human 
slavery ! 

Mr. Charles Francis Adams was the president of that convention, able 
and accomplished, a representative of the culture and refinement and 
learning of the East. And there was Samuel Lewis of Ohio, the first 
Commissioner of Education in Ohio, — " the eldest born of the daughters 
of the Ordinance of 1787," — whose alma mater was a Cincinnati brick- 
yard, but whose natural, effective, magnetic eloquence moved the 
hearts of men, as the strong winds move the dried leaves of autumn, 
and whose burning words for "the rights of man" will ever be 
remembered by all who ever listened to them. And there was one of 



Reunion of Fvee-Soilers of 184S. 87 

your strongest men, in whose reach were all the high places of honor 
your people hold within their gift, Mr. Stephen C. Phillips, who had 
come to Buffalo with all the ardor of a knight of the olden time, and 
with high and holy purpose to do battle for " the right. 1 ' I see now 
his commanding form, his kingly presence, his noble face, his eyes 
kindling with the enthusiasm of his great soul, as he stood before the 
assembled thousands on the last evening of that convention, and 
closed his magnificent speech with these words, " Let your rallying 
cry be. Van Buren and Free-Soil, Adams and Liberty. 1 ' 

And there was Mr. Benjamin F. Butler, the Attorney-General of the 
United States, the long-time personal and political friend of Mr. Van 
Buren, one of the most accomplished and elegant men in the land, 
who had come to help "crush out" General Cass, whose opinions 
were as shifting as the wind, and who had been successful in throwing 
overboard, from the old Democratic ship, Mr. Van Buren, who was 
saved on a Free-Soil plank, and, on that plank, wrecked General 
Cass and the Democratic party in November, 1848. Mr. Butler's 
elegance was in strong contrast with the sturdy vigor and homely 
strength of Mr. Joshua R. Giddings, who had won more victories in 
" the House " over slavery than any man, save Mr. John Quincy 
Adams, and who was as cordially hated as any man in all the land for 
his persistent opposition to slavery and every attempt to extend it. 

And there, too, in that assembly of notable men, was one central 
and commanding person, "the observed of all observers"; a man 
who had never held high office, nor any office, save that of a Council- 
man of his ward in the Common Council in the city of Cincinnati, 
Salmon P. Chase. His was the master-mind in framing the resolves 
of that convention. When he came forward to the platform, and 
announced, as chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, that a 
report had been unanimously agreed upon, and read the resolutions, 
the whole audience stood upon their feet, shout after shout went up, 
and hats were thrown to the ceiling, and all jealousy and distrust 
were gone, and men felt like brothers who were all engaged in one 
common cause. 

Other men were there who had made their mark, and who were 
known to fame, and others who have since become known to fame. 

"The Barn Burners," as the Free-Soil Democrats of New York 
were known, came there determined to avenge the slaughter of the 
favorite son of New York, Mr. Van Buren. On the morning of the 
day the nominations were made, there were a number of Buckeyes 
stopping at the Mansion House, — Messrs. Chase, Bolton, Giddings, 
etc., — when Mr. Benjamin F. Butler, Mr. George Rathbone, Mr. Martin 
Grover, and one other, who was a member of Congres-, whose name 
I cannot recall, came to where we were sitting, and Mr. Butler said to 



88 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

us : " Gentlemen, there are two things that can be done here to-day. 
Nominate Judge McLean, and General Cass will be President of the 
United States. Nominate Mr, Van Buren, and General Taylor will 
be elected ; for we can assure you, that with Mr. Van Buren as a 
candidate, the contest in New York will be between General Taylor 
and Mr. Van Buren. General Cass ' is a dead cock in the pit. 1 Now, 
if you prefer the election of an honest old soldier, like General Taylor, 
to the election of a dough-face like General Cass, nominate Mr. Van 
Buren." We were in telegraphic communication with Judge McLean. 
He would not accept the second place on the ticket, and said "he 
thought the nomination for President belonged to Mr. Van Buren. 1 ' 
The convention assembled. The platform of principles was satisfac- 
tory. Mr. Van Buren was nominated for President, and Mr. Charles 
Francis Adams for Vice-President. These nominations resulted in 
the election of General Taylor and Mr. Fillmore, and saved California 
and New Mexico to free labor, and put an end forever to the exten- 
sion of slavery on American soil. Thenceforth there was free soil for 
free men ! The Buffalo Convention of August, 1848, saved an empire 
to freedom. He who bore a part in the work of that convention may 
well feel that he has not lived in vain. Many who were there lived 
to see "the giant curse removed." Others passed away, and could 
only see the fruits of their labor from the " far-distant shore." 

The Free-Soil movement of 1848 put Mr. Chase into the Senate of 
the United States from Ohio, and Mr. Charles Sumner into the United 
States Senate from Massachusetts. 

I met, for the first time, Mr. Sumner, in Buffalo, the day before the 
convention. I told him "there were 3,000 Buckeyes in Buffalo who 
wished to hear him speak, and they would call him out to-morrow." 
Putting out both of his hands, he replied, "I cannot speak, I cannot 
speak." I repeated, " We shall call you out to-morrow." The mor- 
row came. I went up to " The American," asked for Mr. Sumner, and 
was told by a gentleman from Massachusetts that Mr. Simmer had 
left the city and gone to Niagara Falls. I repeated what I had said" 
to Mr. Sumner the day before, and was told that Mr. Sumner probably 
was not prepared with a speech ; and then asked if he was one of 
those Eastern men who could not speak unless his speech was care- 
fully written out and committed? The answer was, "Yes." Mr. 
Sumner did not return to the Buffalo Convention, and, of course, took 
no part in the work of that meeting. Why, I do not know. A new 
field was to be opened ; new work was to be engaged in ; the hopes 
of men were to be realized or blighted, and ambitions to be satisfied 
or wrecked. He was a noble worker in after days. The victory for 
which we hoped in 1848 was afterwards won. God grant that in all 
our land there may be peace, abundant prosperity, and a just recogni- 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 89 

tion by each of the rights of all ! May we ever acknowledge this great 
truth, that God has so linked us together in this wonderful chain of 
being, that an injury done to one person is an injury to all, and, 
sooner or later, the race must pay the penalty of the violated law ! 

The world moves, and the hands on the dial-plate of the face of 
Time point to Universal Freedom, to Universal Education, and, I 
hope, " in the good time coming," to Universal Temperance among 
men, and to faith in God. 

Yours truly, 

James A. Briggs. 

Mr. Samuel Downer, Boston, Mass. 



LETTER FROM THE HON. M. M. FISHER. 

Medwat, August 7, 1877. 
Samuel Dowxee, Esq. 

Dear Sir: — Through inadvertence, I had forgotten to reply, as 
requested, to your kind invitation to attend the Reunion of the Free- 
Soilers of 1848. 

I have, I assure you, anticipated a very pleasant meeting on that 
occasion, especially with such of the representative delegates to the 
Buffalo Convention, now living, as may be present. 

I am glad to see that Mr. Adams, who, with Mr. William J. Reynolds, 
now dead, was associated with me as delegates from Norfolk, is 
called to preside. 

Since receiving your note, I have lived much in the past, and 
reviewed my personal relation to many things connected with the 
early progress of the anti-slavery cause. In thought I have again 
attended the first anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society 
as delegate, in 1833, and gone South, visited the slave pens in Wash- 
ington, and distributed tracts and books to slaveholders. 

Have again delivered, in Amherst College, the first essay on this 
question, in 1833. Gone over all the towns in Norfolk County, from 
1840 to 1848, to establish the Liberty party. 

Have read over the first petition to the great American Missionary 
Board on this subject, at Worcester, in 1845. I feel that I can say, in 
this matter, as old ..Eneas says about the destruction of Troy, " All 
of which I saw, and part of which I was." 

I trust that a roll will be made up of those who attend this Reunion, 
and measures adopted to reassemble at some future time, if not at a 
regular period, " to count over the battles fought in freedom's cause. 1 ' 

Yours respectfully, 

M. M. Fisher. 

12 



90 Beunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

LETTER FROM HON. THOMAS RUSSELL. 

Boston, August 8, 1877. 

Dear Sir: — I regret that I cannot join your goodly company 
to-morrow. It was not altogether pleasant to be a Free-Soiler in 
1848. It is very pleasant now to have been one. It is a certificate 
of political good character — for the past. It is also an assurance to 
ourselves. You know the familiar story of Cromwell's death-bed, 
when he asked his minister whether he was sure about the final per- 
severance of the saints. " Certainly," said he. " Then," said Crom- 
well, " I am safe. I know I was once in a state of grace." The Free- 
Soiler of '48, whatever his wanderings have been since, feels that he 
was once in a state of grace. 

One recollection of those times. We young speakers were fond of 
personality, but in those days of rapid progress I found that the men 
whom we were assailing were constantly placing themselves by our 
side, — a good reason for giving up the practice of harsh speaking. 
So it has been since. Still the world moves fast ; still — 

" Our frowning foemen of the night 
Are brothers at the dawn of day." 

With all good wishes, I am 

Yours, very truly, 

Thomas Russell. 
S. Downer, Esq. 



LETTER FROM THE HON. WILLIAM B. SPOONER. 

Petersham, August 4, 1877. 
Samuel Downer, Esq. 

My Dear Sir : — I am very much obliged for the invitation to meet 
the " Free-Soilers of 1848," and, Providence permitting, I intend to 
be there. 

A great many recollections it calls up. How many of the choice 
spirits have passed away ! — Phillips, Hoar, Sumner, Wilson, Andrew, 
Hale, Chase, and others. 

I remember attending the convention at Worcester, when the party 
was formed ; and the first meeting at Tremont Temple, where I had 
the honor to preside, and the old hero, Giddings, gave a two-hours' 
address, etc., etc. 

I shall be happy to meet you, which I have not had the pleasure of 
doing for quite a period, and am most truly yours, 

W. B. Spooner. 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of ISIS. 91 

LETTER FROM NATHANIEL C. NASH, Esq. 

Boston, August 1, 1877. 
Samuel Downer, Esq. 

Dear Sir : — It gives me great pleasure to accept your kind invita- 
tion to attend the gathering in reunion of the Free-Soilers of 18-48, at 
Melville Garden, on the 9th of August. I often look back to my early 
dedication to the Free-Soil party with more satisfaction than any other 
act of my life. 

At the Free-Soil Convention held at Worcester, June 28, 1848, of 
which Samuel Hoar of Concord was President, the following resolu- 
tion was passed, the author of which was one of the noblest of men 
and wisest counsellors recognized in the ranks of the old Free-Soil 
party, and so remained to the day of his death. Need I say that I 
refer to W. S. Robinson, late clerk of the House of Representatives? 
His noble words are as follows : — 

" Resolved, That Massachusetts wears no chains, and spurns all bribes. Massa- 
chusetts goes now, and will ever go, for free soil and free men, for free lips and 
a free press, for a free land and a free world." 

I remain, my dear sir, yours, very truly, 

Nath'l C. Nash. 



LETTER FROM THE HON. JOHN I. BAKER. 

Beverly, August 7, 1877. 
Samuel Dowxer, Esq. 

Dear Sir: — I have been honored with your invitation to attend 
the reunion of the Free-Soilers of 1848, and have delayed answering 
till this late moment, hoping that I might be able to accept. But cir- 
cumstances beyond my control still forbid my attendance, and I am, 
therefore, with great reluctance, compelled to deny myself the pleasure 
of meeting with the many faithful friends of equal rights who will 
gather together on this occasion ; many of whom it has been my 
privilege to know and to honor for these many years, and all of 
whom are entitled to our honor and respect for their courage and 
fidelity in times of trial. Trusting that you may all find rich enjoy- 
ment in review of your work in the past, and at the same time take 
renewed courage and hope for the right in the future, and thanking 
you for the invitation so kindly extended to me, 
I am, with much respect, 

Faithfully yours, 

John I. Baker. 



92 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

LETTER FROM EBENEZER CLAPP, Esq. 

Dorchester, July 25, 1877. 

Dear Friend Downer: — I am much obliged for your cordial 
invitation to meet with the Free-Soilers of 1848. 

How distinctly those days come before me ! It may not be modest 
for me to say it, but I believe I was the first to make a beginning of 
the party which took that name. It was the day that President Taylor 
was nominated ; it was telegraphed to Boston in the p. m. I went 
home ; told my wife I would make a beginning of another party, if 
I was alone. After tea, started from the house; walked as far as 
Thomas Howe's, in Stoughton Street, and met Jonathan Battles; 
told him my business ; he said he would join me. A paper was 
drawn up, calling a meeting, and 250 as respectable people as lived 
in town signed it ; the list is among my papers. The first meeting- 
was called at Lyceum Hall. You called it to order, and William 
Richardson, the lawyer, presided. You and I were on the committee 
to report resolutions ; also, on the committee of vigilance. We saw 
the thing put through, and held on, through Know-Nothing and all 
other side issues, until its final triumph in 1865. We triumphed 
because we were on God's side ; one is a majority with him. 

Although very lame, I mean to be present if the weather is 
propitious. 

Truly yours, 

Eben'r Clapp. 



LETTER FROM THE HON. HENRY CHAPIN. 

Sharon Springs, N. Y., July 28, 1877. 

My Dear Sir: — Your invitation to attend a meeting of the 
original Free-Soilers was forwarded to me from Worcester. I suppose 
that I shall not return in season to attend the proposed meeting. 
Nothing would gratify me more than to be present. The suggestions 
recall to me memories which are deeply engraved in my heart. I 
was a member of the convention which elected Charles Allen as a 
delegate to the Philadelphia Convention. In our district convention, 
the candidates were Charles Allen and Alexander H. Bullock. It 
was my fortune to inform Mr. Allen that we had elected him. 
"Well," said he, "if you want a man uncompromisingly opposed to 
the extension of slavery, you have got him." You know the history 
of the Philadelphia Convention. Mr. Allen returned, and most of 
the leading Whigs turned their backs upon him. I was chairman of 
the Whig County Committee, and felt that Mr. Allen was right, and 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of 1848. 93 

made up my mind, for one, to stand by him. I called the Whig 
County Convention, and after calling it to order, retired from the 
Whig party. No one, who was not in the same condition, can realize 
at what a sacrifice of feeling I sundered my relations with men whom 
I had learned to love and honor above any I had ever known ; but 
there was a duty to be done, and from such an ordeal cowards only 
flinch. We were threatened with social ostracism ; our names, for a 
time, almost east out as evil. The last official act of Governor Clifford 
was to relieve me as Commissioner of Insolvency, and appoint in my 
place Alexander H. Bullock, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts. 
But time had its revenge; the stone which the builders rejected, 
unexpectedly to itself, became the head of the corner, and men who 
never expected to have any political influence were carried forward 
by the progress of events, until the last shackle was struck from the 
last slave, and the country was free from the curse of human bondage. 
I have written more than I intended ; but the old wheels, set in 
motion, will run. I doubt not that you will have a glorious time. 
You will have the representatives of those who believed that there 
was a God in Israel, and who founded a party which said what it 
meant, and meant what it said. 

Yours truly, 

Henry Chapin. 



LETTER FROM THE HON. R. H. DANA, Jr. 

Boston, July 28, 1877. 

Dear Sir : — I am extremely obliged to you for your kind invitation 
for the 9th proximo, which I should take great pleasure in accepting, 
but the government requires my presence at Halifax during all the 
month of August, before the commission there in session. 

Yours, very truty, 

R. H. Dana, Jr. 

Samuel Downer, Esq. 



LETTER FROM CHARLES M. ELLIS, Esq. 

My Dear Mr. Downer : — It will give me great pleasure to join you 
and the other Free-Soilers of 1848 on the 9th ; and, if able, I will be 
there, as — ever since the Latimer days of 1843, when, hating to have 
our State officers hired to catch slaves, and our chief justice hold 
court in jail, I helped get the first personal liberty bill — I have been 
glad to be in every pinch. 

Faithfully yours, 

C. M. Ellis. 
Rockwood, August 1. 



94 Reunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

TELEGRAM FROM JOHN G. WHITTIER. 

Danvers, Mass., August 9, 1877. 

S. Downer, Esq., Melville Garden, Downer Landing. 

Greeting to the men of forty-eight ! Thanks to the Divine Provi- 
dence which has enabled us to see the end for which we labored 
thirty years ago ! The Slave States are free. Let us draw them closer 
to us by generous confidence and kind offices. 

John G. Whittier. 



Reunion of Free-Soilers of ISIS. 95 



P2BAN- 1848. 
By Johx Greexleae Whittier. 

Now, joy and thanks forevermore ! 

The dreary night has well-nigh passed, 
The slumbers of the North are o'er — 

The Giant stands erect at last! 

More than we hoped in that dark time, 
When, faint with watching, few and worn, 

We saw no welcome day-star climb 
The cold gray pathway of the morn ! 

weary hours ! night of years ! 

What storms our darkling pathway swept, 
Where, beating back our thronging fears, 

By Faith alone our march we kept ! 

How jeered the scoffing crowd behind, 
How mocked before the tyrant train, 

As, one by one, the true and kind 
Fell fainting in our path of pain ! 

They died — their brave hearts breaking slow- 
But, self-forgetful to the last, 

In words of cheer and bugle blow 

Their breath upon the darkness passed. 

A mighty host, on either hand, 
Stood waiting for the dawn of day 

To crush like reeds our feeble band ; 
The morn has come — and where are they ? 

Troop after troop their line forsakes ; 

With peace-white banners waving free, 
And from our own the glad shout breaks, 

Of Freedom and Fraternity ! 

Like mist before the growing light, 

The hostile cohorts melt away ; 
Our frowning foemen of the night 

Are brothers at the dawn of day ! 



96 Beunion of Free- Boilers of 1848. 

As unto these repentant ones 
We open wide our toil-worn ranks, 

Along our line a murmur runs 

Of song and praise and grateful thanks. 

Sound for the onset ! — Blast on blast ! 

Till Slavery's minions cower and quail ; 
One charge of fire shall drive them fast 

Like chaff before our Northern gale ! 

O, prisoners in your house of pain, 
Dumb, toiling millions, bound and sold, 

Look ! stretched o'er Southern vale and plain, 
The Lord's delivering hand behold ! 

Above the tyrant's pride of power, 
His iron gates and guarded wall, 

The bolts which shattered Shinar's tower, 
Hang, smoking, for a fiercer fall. 

Awake ! awake ! my Father-land ! 

It is thy Northern light that shines ; 
This stirring march of Freedom's band 

The storm-song of thy mountain pines. 

Wake, dwellers where the day expires ! 

And hear, in winds that sweep your lakes 
And fan your prairies' roaring fires, 

The signal-call that Freedom makes ! 






REUNION 



Free-Soilers of 1848, 



DOWNER LANDING, HINGHAM, MASS., 



August 9, 1877. 



Behold, there ariseth a little clovd, like a man's hand. 



BOSTON: 
ALBERT J. WEIGHT, PRIX T E K. 

I ilk Street (corner of Federal). 

77. 






LB My '1 3 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

029 827 425 5 



